BRITAIN: Residents of a flood-ravaged Cornwall village returned to their devastated homes yesterday and began the long task of cleaning up the damage.
The cordon around the lower part of the pretty coastal village was lifted at midday, allowing residents full access to their homes for the first time since disaster struck 10 days ago.
They were faced with shocking scenes - front doors opened on thick, sticky carpets of mud, gardens were filled with rubble and greasy sludge, and everywhere the cloying smell of damp hung in the air.
Some villagers said they planned to sleep at home last night, but most estimated it would be many months before their houses would be habitable again.
Mr David Brown, chief executive of North Cornwall District Council, symbolically lifted the cordon around the worst-affected area of Boscastle in a brief ceremony at noon.
Mr Brown, who is leading the clean-up operation, said some villagers had "lost dreams" in last week's dramatic flash floods.
He added: "Some of these people have lost a lot of property, and some properties aren't there any more." He said residents would find in their homes the same sewage, silt and parts of trees that workers have been clearing out of the village's streets over the past week. Mr John Smart (55), returned to find his Spinning Wheel restaurant filled with sludge. The roof of the restaurant was also badly damaged when scores of people were airlifted to safety from the upper floor. He and his wife Francilla hope to move back into the living area within a couple of months, but the restaurant will not be back in business before next Easter. Miraculously no-one died or was seriously injured when 8 inches of rain fell over Boscastle last week.