Clean-up after South West flash flooding

Lucy Bennett said her son lost most of his furniture, clothes and music equipment following the flash floods on 29 August

People in the south-west of England are still cleaning up in the aftermath of the flash floods.

Residents in the Laira area of Plymouth, Devon, said they have had to move out and cars had been written off due to sewage and floodwater on 29 August.

Plymouth City Council said it responded overnight to 33 incidents on Friday related to flooding. It said teams were still working on those throughout the day.

In Cornwall, one pub landlady said heavy rain created a "river", flooding the pub's back room 1ft (30cm) deep in conditions which she said were the worst she had seen in more than a decade working there.

Lucy Bennett said they did not know what to do next

Lucy Bennett, from Plymouth, said her son had lost most of his furniture, clothes and music equipment as a result of the deluge in the city.

She said: "There was sewage and mud everywhere.

"We managed to save some clothes higher up.

"His guitar, which was in a case, was floating on top of the water, but we managed to save that and his banjo.

"Things like his amps and wires have had it."

She said they have spent about £400 to get everything removed and repaired, and they were "still counting".

"I'm bewildered by it all because I don't know what to do next," she added.

Trina Crawford from the Fishermans Arms in East Looe said she had never seen rain like it

Trina Crawford, from the Fishermans Arms in East Looe, Cornwall, said the heavy rain, which lasted for about two hours, created a "river" down the side of the building, flooding its back room.

She said on Monday she had "never seen anything like it" in the 14 years she had been there.

"It was like a river. I've seen it do it before for like five minutes, but this was two hours of solid rain going past the pub," Ms Crawford said.

"It was about a foot deep in the back bar and down the back stairs, which it never does. It then went out to the main bar as well."

'No warning'

She said the carpet in the backroom was still "soaked" and plans to have it ripped up once it dried, which could take about two weeks.

"It will cost me £200 to get it out of here and for someone to take it away. I can't lift it up because it is too heavy to lift because it's soaked," said Ms Crawford.

She said it would be the third time replacing carpeting due to previous floods, so she was going to buy a rug and have all the wooden floor stripped back.

Despite the flooding, she opened at the weekend but was unable to use the back room, which sits 20 people, due to the damp smell.

"In takings I have lost a couple of grand and to have the carpet taken away and the floor stripped between £1,000 and £1,500."

She added: "Nobody knew it was going to happen... Nobody got a warning, so it caught everyone out."