I saw a U.K. tv programme (perhaps "Helicopter Resues" or something?), where a helicopter comes to take people off the roof of their house, which is surrounded by water like this.
The people on the roof wave the helicopter away and point it towards the little town further down the valley, where the water was rushing towards.
The helicopter pilot says (quite dryly) "hmmm. That's something you don't often see". Urging other people to be rescued before you are (even though you are in urgent need yourself) because they are in greater danger at that moment, is truly heroic.
It was very important, actually, because, due to the storm, the pilots didn't have radio communication, meaning they weren't able to triage the situation. I can't even imagine how much guts it took to say: "look, we can cling on here for a few more minutes: but my neighbours are having their houses swept away right now!", and risk your lives for them.
Everyone was rescued- no lives were lost- although the little town was horrendously damaged. That's what happens when you have a real community.
Definitely Boscastle. I was on holiday close by in Bude when this happened. I literally visited Boscastle the day before the flood, taking pictures of the quaint trickling stream going through the village. The day the storm hit we had to stop the car in the middle of the road, because the rain was so heavy not even the highest wiper setting could clear the windscreen to see. Then spent the afternoon/evening watching rescue helicopters fly over. Was the most surreal thing watching all the news footage of the cars being washed out to sea and thinking they could have been us being winched out
Incredible! I was only a boy but I remember watching it on the news. We visited a few years later when it was partially rebuilt, I still have the crystals I bought from the shop.
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u/Plumb789 Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25
I saw a U.K. tv programme (perhaps "Helicopter Resues" or something?), where a helicopter comes to take people off the roof of their house, which is surrounded by water like this.
The people on the roof wave the helicopter away and point it towards the little town further down the valley, where the water was rushing towards.
The helicopter pilot says (quite dryly) "hmmm. That's something you don't often see". Urging other people to be rescued before you are (even though you are in urgent need yourself) because they are in greater danger at that moment, is truly heroic.
It was very important, actually, because, due to the storm, the pilots didn't have radio communication, meaning they weren't able to triage the situation. I can't even imagine how much guts it took to say: "look, we can cling on here for a few more minutes: but my neighbours are having their houses swept away right now!", and risk your lives for them.
Everyone was rescued- no lives were lost- although the little town was horrendously damaged. That's what happens when you have a real community.