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Two people have been rescued by helicopter after heavy thunderstorms led to "major flooding" in a coastal village in Cornwall.
Witnesses described seeing a "tsunami in reverse" as a flash flood hit Coverack, blocking roads and affecting around 50 homes.
Residents said the storm washed sheds out of gardens and sent hailstones the size of 50 pence piece smashing into windows.
Elsewhere, a yellow weather warning is in place through the day for large swathes of England and Wales, with the Met Office predicting a month's worth of rain could fall in some places in a matter of hours.
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Zoe Holmes, who manages the Bay Hotel in Coverack, told Sky News the storm was "very extraordinary".
"We started off with ginormous hailstones," she said, "and then the heavens opened and, just, floods of water everywhere.
"It was almost like a tsunami in reverse. Just torrents of water coming down the hill and pouring over the sea wall."
Ms Holmes added: "We have a house in the village and that was up to above knee height. You can see other houses that are just devastated with water pouring out of the windows.
"It really felt like something out of a film."
Ms Holmes said the storm's severity was "bizarre".
"People were stuck four miles away in glorious sunshine with no rain and we had this storm here," she said.
A local business owner, who did not want to be named, said the conditions were "quite horrendous".
"It was torrential," she added. "Our neighbours across the road from us, their shed disappeared down the river.
"Our neighbours, just up the road from us, their oil tank disappeared down the river.
"I have never seen such big hails. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing and it was hailing, all at the same time.
"It was quite amazing really."
Cornwall Council said a multi-agency emergency centre had been opened at County Hall, Truro.
It said a number of properties and one of the roads into Coverack had suffered structural damage.
Structural engineers are due to inspect them.
Sky's West of England Correspondent Rebecca Williams said villagers were startled by the flood.
She said: "What many said was most shocking is that just four miles up the road people were experiencing sunshine and yet here there was horrendous flooding.
"Alot of the walls have been knocked down and it will take a long time to rebuild the devastation."
(SKY NEWS)
