Streets flooded as heavy rain batters region

ROADS flooded, shops were hit and a family had to be rescued from a house in Torpoint as more than half of the average monthly rainfall fell in less than 12 hours.

- By HERALD REPORTERS

The council were yesterday in the process of cleaning up streets left covered in debris after torrential rain fell from 10pm on Thursday night and into early yesterday.

A weather station in Mount Batten recorded 56mm of rain between Thursday evening and 9am yesterday - with Devon's average rainfall for the whole of August just 94.2mm.

Fire crews rescued a family from their flooding home in Torpoint, Cornwall, and the town's fire station warned of deep flood water on the A374 from Wilcove to Antony.

A landslide blocked the A379 in Modbury, Devon, and fire crews in the county were called to 15 incidents overnight into yesterday.

Readers' photos showed Wolseley Road in Plymouth under water, while both Exeter Street and Union Street were flooded in places.

A Met Office yellow rain warning ended at noon yesterday. Heavy downpours hit the region as the remnants of Hurricane Erin were subsumed into a low pressure system.

The RAC breakdown service said the rain did not cause widespread issues on the roads, but said further downpours are forecast today.

Rain and strong winds are expected to push through western parts of the UK today and the rain is expected to be heavy and persistent, unlike the recent short-lived and intense downpours.

Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said: "You would expect summer rainfall to be these sort of intense, heavy bursts along with dry periods in between.