7:53pm Wednesday 13th August 2008
A five-year-old girl drowned after falling into a river as severe storms lashed parts of the country.
The youngster was walking the dog with her family when she was caught in a "massive downpour" and swept downstream in the swollen waters of the River Neet in Stratton, near Bude on the north Cornwall coast.
She pulled from the river nearly two hours later and airlifted to hospital in Plymouth, but could not be revived.
The girl, who has not been named, is thought to be from the Holsworthy area of Devon.
The South West was among the areas worst affected by flooding as half a month's rainfall fell in 24 hours in parts of the country.
The Environment Agency issued five flood warnings for rivers in Devon and Cornwall and 10 lower status flood watches.
Elsewhere, heavy rains and high winds caused transport chaos across the country.
Dozens of homes were flooded in Fife, with some householders deluged by four feet of water.
Flooding caused delays on trains in Scotland, south Wales and the South West and trees were downed by high winds which disrupted trains on lines out of London to the South East. A force 10 gale caused delays of two hours on cross-Channel ferries out of Dover, a spokeswoman for the port said.
Three men were rescued from the roof of their car in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and three others were pulled from their cars after floodwater engulfed the vehicles in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.
