Cornwall clean-up after 100 properties flooded

Residents are cleaning up after more than 100 properties were flooded in Cornwall following heavy rain.

The Met Office said a yellow warning for rain had expired and there were no further warnings in place.

The Environment Agency (EA) said a flood warning was in place for the River Cober in Helston for the St John's area of town.

Devon and Cornwall Police said they had closed the A39 at Perranarworthal after the river Kennel burst its banks.

Overnight, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said it had removed water from a property in Perranporth and one in the St Buryan area, near Penzance, which had about 2ft of water inside.

Cornwall Council said 114 properties were flooded at the weekend.

Unlike the floods which devastated parts of mid Cornwall in November 2010, the authority said the whole of the county had been affected by the heavy rain and winds.

Among the worst-hit places over the weekend were Millbrook, Mevagissey, Polperro, Newlyn, Perranporth and Trenear near Helston.

Mevagissey was one of the worst-hit places in Cornwall on Saturday evening

Paul Allen from the county's highways department said officials were assessing the damage caused to the county's A and B roads but an "ever-decreasing highways maintenance budget" made prioritising roads "extremely difficult".

During the weekend, the fire service said it received 520 calls, which was its busiest weekend on record and every one of its 31 stations in the county was involved.

Tony Gibb, landlord of the Ship Inn in Mevagissey, said it had been flooded six times in the past six weeks.

On Saturday evening the pub was flooded with 8in (20cm) of water.

He said: "As usual it was a slow flood from the internal drains... we very rarely get the water in through the doors."

Mr Gibb said he was struggling to get the water out when three men arrived with brooms and helped with the clean-up.

"We don't know who they were, we only know they were from St Austell and they called themselves a 'fast response unit' but they weren't employed by the council," he said.

"Six people eventually came down with brooms and buckets and they stayed until 02:30 on Sunday helping people in the village.

"They were great and I'd like to say thank you."

Repeat flooding

Over the weekend, dozens of homes in Millbrook, Kingsand and Cawsand on the Rame Peninsula in south-east Cornwall were flooded.

John Shepherd, from Cawsand, said: "There are some houses that have been flooded two or three times in as many years."

On Sunday, three people escaped from a car which was overwhelmed with water while they were crossing a ford at Mountjoy, near Newquay.

The heavy rain and winds have also had an impact on rail services, with buses replacing some services between Exeter and Bristol and Exeter and Yeovil.

A bus service replaced the branch line between Truro and Falmouth Docks after a tree fell on the line.

First Great Western is currently advising passengers not to travel between Plymouth and Bristol.

In Devon, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has visited the area around Cowley Bridge, in Exeter, which remains flooded.