THE worst weather conditions experienced since the great gale of October 1987 have left many parts of South East Cornwall strewn with debris, damaged buildings and floods.

Gales gusted up to 90mph at one point, accompanied by torrential rain.

Train delays were slightly better in the county than elsewhere, the services between Penzance and Exeter running, while the line north of Exeter suffered flooding and the loss of an embankment, washed away by the water.

The Liskeard to Looe branch railway was, however, submerged by water in places, and therefore closed, passengers being re-routed on to local buses put on by Wales and West.

The whole length of the River Tamar was on flood alert, the worst problems being near Gunnislake. Chris Kent, 60, found his home, at Weir Head, flooded to 15'. He had to be airlifted by a military helicopter on Monday afternoon, and said that if the water had risen a further ten feet he would have been in a great deal of trouble.

Help

Close neighbour, Paul Gerry, said Mr Kent was heard yelling for help, and the fire service was called. Mr Gerry's own front garden was covered by 6' of water, and he had to abandon his home, with wife Katie, as the water rose. He explained how they put sandbags outside the front door, moved their most valuable possessions to the top rooms, and placed a ladder out of the back window which allowed them to climb out on to the farmer's field behind the property.

Chartered surveyor Nick Andrews, who lives by the River Lynher at Callington New Bridge, found around 5" of water seeping into his home, while water in a field outside rose to about three and a half foot. This was a re-run of flooding in his home at Christmas. His wife and two children were away at the time. He said he had had sandbags ready to put against the door, and was prepared by lifting furniture off the floor in anticipation. Nevertheless the carpets and skirting boards have been damaged. He now aims to put in hard flooring and rugs.

At St Keyne the winds affected a property which was having its roof repaired – gales lifting what remained. But as soon as the weather subsided workers moved in to batten down the hatches. The tenant of the top flat was away for the weekend, and returned to discover the damage. However, she said that fortunately very little water had seeped in. At Blisland roads became impassable at times due to flooding.

Farmers in the region had to tackle flooded fields, and fears that animals could be swept away. Regional spokesman for the NFU, Ian Johnston said in some cases areas were affected which had never been flooded before. He said there were several incidents where animals were swept away, and in one case 30 chickens died when their hut was swamped by water.

Huge seas also ravaged the coastline, though little damage has been reported. At Looe the harbourmaster Ted Webb said the port had been lucky. 'Although the weather was very rough with an accompanying spring tide we suffered no damage to speak of' he said. However he said much of this was due to the wind direction. 'If it had been a south easterly we probably would have been in trouble'.

Trees

The Tamar Bridge was closed to high sided vehicles and motorcycles for six hours on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and dozens of lorries were forced to take other routes.

There were a number of trees across the roads, the Lostwithiel area being the worst hit, and highways workers were called out to deal with this, and flooded routes. At Fowey two trees had been brought down blocking both approach roads to the town, which was cut off until they had been removed. A road was blocked by a fallen tree at Hessenford for nearly all of Monday, with traffic being diverted via Downderry and Seaton. The A38 Glyn Valley road between Bodmin and Liskeard was strewn with debris.

Wet and windy conditions are forecast for the weekend.