Ordeal of collapsed house couple

The collapse of the house was captured on mobile phone video

An elderly couple whose bedroom collapsed into a flooded river in Ludlow have spoken of their ordeal.

Gordon and Doreen Pearce had 45 minutes to collect a few belongings and get out before the floodwaters swamped their home of 40 years on Monday evening.

Part of the house collapsed into the River Corve on Wednesday.

The couple lost their car, a wardrobe full of clothes and other furniture. Mr Pearce said: "We were lucky we got out on Monday evening."

He added: "We had three quarters of an hour from the time the water was low until when I went out and it was up to my waist."

'Quite scary'

Mrs Pearce said: "The water was below the river bank so we didn't expect it to go over the fields quite as quickly as it did.

"It just seemed to come from nowhere."

The couple called their twin grandsons, Edward and Oliver, to help them.

Oliver said: "The water was up to our waist. It would've been a struggle to get out of there had we left it any longer.

"It was quite scary but at the time we just concentrated on getting out of there."