Sandplace near Looe could have been renamed Mudplace on Wednesday morning after the night's storms left the road through the village inches deep in mud and potatoes! Buildings alongside the road were brown up to window height as a result of traffic forcing its way through the floodwaters – and local residents say the whole thing could have been avoided if Cornwall County Council had taken action to clear blocked drains after the previous week's storms. The water, laced with stones and potatoes washed from a field further up the hill, poured down the lane linking Morval with Sandplace, past Shoemakers Row, a terrace of cottages set back from the road and home for the past 16 years to Raymond and Phyllis Petipher. They spent Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday listening to the pouring rain and watching the torrent rush past their front door, just inches from the step. Mr Petipher said he contacted Cornwall County Council after a similar experience during the storms 11 days ago, suggesting they cleared the drains to prevent further debris being washed down the lane and deposited in gardens and the parking area serving the cottages. 'We never heard anything back from them,' he said. 'Eventually I got on to George Hocking, our county councillor – as a result someone came out in a car on Tuesday and took some photos and then left. 'That night it all happened again, but far worse!' Beyond the Petiphers' home, further up the hill, pits over a foot deep have been gouged into the road surface and the lane itself was inches deep in mud and stones. At the bottom of the lane the mud was even thicker and council workmen were busy for most of the day clearing it.
