Surveyors completing their assessment of the flood-hit Cornish village of Boscastle have reported relatively little damage to building structures – which they describe as a “minor miracle”.
Building control surveyors from North Cornwall council left the site at the end of last week following a two-week operation. Out of more than 60 buildings assessed, seven require part or total demolition, and a further seven need props or other structural support. A number of other buildings have minor damage but are structurally sound.
Martin Pipet, senior building control surveyor, said he was surprised at the limited extent of the damage.
He said: “Although I was warned by the news images, entering the village after the flooding was like walking into something out of a disaster movie. But once the clean-up began, the structural damage was not as great as was first feared.”
Pipet said that the number of damaged buildings was a challenge for the surveyors. He said: “Most of our team have only ever faced one dangerous structure at a time, such as a bus crashing into a wall, so the Boscastle incident presented a far greater challenge.”
Surveyors are still being called into the village by concerned residents, but Pipet confirmed that no other structural problems had become apparent since the initial assessment.
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