MARTIN JUDD, of Blackpool Mill, Dartmouth, writes:

The recent article in the paper on the damage done to Blackpool Lane by the flood in the early hours of December 22, does not touch on the real consequence of the event, primarily the damage to houses, property and the effect on the people involved.

At about 03.15am on Saturday, December 22, Middle Mill, Blackpool Mill and Blackpool Farm were all inundated with flood water, when what has been described in your previous article as a 'tsunami', swept down the valley.

Based on insurance assessments so far the damage is estimated at about £200,000 which does not include repairs to the watercourse, gardens or the damage to the road and walls.

The effect on the people affected is immeasurable. For example, a VW Touran was destroyed outside Blackpool Mill, hit by at least three feet of water.

The vehicle was three and a half years old and with extras cost £29,000. The insurance company has written the car off and is now offering £8,000.

You see people on the TV wading through water in their living room and although you feel desperately sorry for them, you switch channels and life goes on.

However, when in the middle of the night it is your property damaged by 18' of muddy 'black water' as it is described, when it is your sofas floating around the living room, your saucepans and packets of food floating around the kitchen, when it's your children screaming, your Christmas presents floating out the back door, then the whole event takes on a different perspective, initially somewhat surreal until reality dawns and you have to start the clear up.

And who can you turn to for help? The fire brigade were already overwhelmed by the time we phoned up for help.

Nobody else is available so you get on and do the best you can to scrape up the layers of mud and debris and rescue what you can.

And then what? Well because everyone is so busy it is well over a week before the assessors and flood restorers can get here (infact the restorers came from Northampton as everyone locally was too busy to help and have never been seen again despite promising to monitor the drying out process and rescuing what they could).

So the pile of carpets, furniture, curtains, hi-fi, photos and so on is just quietly rotting in the rain.

The whole recovery process seems to have the momentum of a rock that grinds to a halt when you stop pushing.

So we carry on pushing, glad the days are getting longer and not caring much how long it takes to fix the road shown in your article.

The one absolutely amazing, typically British reaction to the whole event was the way family, friends and acquaintances rallied around.

Some appeared with mops, buckets and towels, others cooked hot meals for us or brought flowers, some phoned to give encouragement or offer accommodation.

It was enough to bring tears to your eyes which on several occasions it did.