THE Cornish village of Boscastle faces losses of £25m after this week's flash floods put an end to the resort's tourist season.

Up to 25 businesses were destroyed when 10ft-high floodwaters tore through the village at 40mph on Monday afternoon.

Homes, shops and a church dating back to the Middle Ages were damaged as the rivers Valency and Jordan burst their banks and engulfed the coastal village.

Boscastle's main source of income is tourism, and the floods coincided with the busiest time in the village's tourist calendar.

The clear-up campaign will continue for the foreseeable future, with little prospect of tourists being able to visit the wrecked village centre and harbour for months.

Susan Chamberlain, 52, who owned Boscastle's bakery, was allowed back to her shop for the first time yesterday.

Floodwaters tore out the inside of the shop, taking all the equipment and leaving an empty shell now littered with silt and broken branches.

Mrs Chamberlain said: "It's a mess, such a mess. Everything's gone, it's been gutted.

"The floodwaters tore out huge bread mixers and a baking oven bigger than any of the cars that ended up in the harbour."

As the floodwaters rose on Monday, Mrs Chamberlain and her husband, Nev, carried on baking until a fireman moved them to their flat.

Mrs Chamberlain said: "We carried on baking until the last possible minute.

"Our oven sailed down the high street with a fresh batch of Eccles cakes inside it."

The village's Minster church, which dates back to the 9th Century, was also badly damaged in the flood.

The church houses the tomb of Cornish saint St Materiana.

The Bishop of Truro, Bill Ind, visited the Minster and the shattered village centre yesterday.

He said: "The damage is just immense, it's awful and difficult to take it all in."