Flash flooding has wiped out roads and destroyed a bridge in the Yorkshire Dales with more heavy rain to come, forecasters have warned.
Residents were today clearing up the devastation wreaked in their homes by flash flooding after a month's worth of rain fell in just hours yesterday.
Travel conditions across north Yorkshire were described by police as "shocking" after 50mm of rain fell in a short space of time. Roads were washed away, bridges made impassable, and homeowners have been left with their belongings destroyed.
Rescuers reported seeing sheds and oil tanks floating down roads as "100 or more" homes in the Yorkshire Dales were hit by the deluge.
A clean-up operation has started in the worst hit villages, with one local resident describing their community as a "virtual lake".
A bridge over Cogden Gill on Grinton Moor, which featured in the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France, was reduced to ruins, leaving a gaping hole.
Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team, which posted a photo of the wrecked bridge, urged motorists to "only travel if essential as many routes are impassable".
A representative for the team, Steve Clough, said: "The roads were a raging torrent and there were sheds and household oil tanks floating down them."
His team spent more than eight hours searching properties in the area, rescuing about 10 people, but added that North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service helped many more.
He estimated "100 or more" homes had been affected, adding: "Some homes had a metre of water in them - it was horrific."
Troops have been sent in today to help with the clean-up operation.
The fire service said it received around 115 calls to flooding incidents in Leyburn and Reeth on Tuesday evening, with one resident describing the community's shock at what happened.
"We expected some rain, we expected some stormy weather, but I think collectively in the valley here no-one really expected what happened," event organiser Alex Rafferty said.
He and his team have had to cancel the Ard Rock mountain bike festival, which was meant to take place in Reeth from Thursday to Sunday, because it would be "impossible" to pitch tents in the flooded fields.
"It truly just came down off the hills in waterfalls, it blew the riverbanks and has damaged a huge amount of infrastructure, local houses and local businesses," he said.
Wilf Bishop, 77, who has lived in the Yorkshire Dales since 1988 and moved to Reeth in 2000 called the conditions "appalling, absolutely appalling".
Describing how the rain came down from the hillside, he said: "We'd just got back from a walk on the hillside and it started to rain a little, then within minutes it was this astonishing downpour.
"You can see just walking around the village the effect that it has had. People's gardens are covered in silt and mud, their lawns don't exist any more.
"The farmers - the hay that they've just taken and bailed up has been strewn everywhere, so that will be written off.
"I guess livestock has been lost, I don't know. It's turned this part of Reeth, the lower part, into a virtual lake, and everyone is working hard to try and recover it."
The drama continued in other parts of north Yorkshire, where a man and a woman were left clinging to a cliff "by their fingernails".
The pair were cut off by the tide on Tuesday afternoon as they walked along a beach, so they clambered 100ft up the Filey Brigg cliff to escape, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency reported.
Matt Atkinson, of HM Coastguard, said in a statement: "When the Coastguard teams arrived on scene the man and woman were clinging on by their fingernails so we knew that we had to act fast."
They were rescued by two coastguard teas after which they were described as “safe and well”.
Pictures and videos on social media showed further flooding across the Yorkshire Dales.
Malham Tarn saw 82.2mm of rain in 24 hours, the majority of which fell within four hours. The monthly average in the area for this time of year is 89mm.
Roads resembled rivers, with the main road linking Richmond and villages including Reeth washed away near Grinton.
The fierce flooding followed a violent hail and rain storm further west, which caused a landslide to block the main settle to Carlisle railway line between Kirkby Stephen and Garsdale.
Hailstones the size of sweets or “pickled onions” fell in some areas, causing damage and destruction.
Gareth Walls, of Ripon, posted a clip of the hailstones pounding down on his car on Tuesday afternoon.
He tweeted a picture of one of the hailstones, saying: "The hail was like pickled onions."
Farmer Andrew Loftus, from Masham, said some of the hailstones measured almost an inch in diameter.
He posted a picture of a toy digger on a blanket of white with the words: "My son's digger has its work cut out with these hailstones!"
The Brymor Ice Cream parlour, near Masham, said the freak hailstorm left some customers with minor injuries.
The attraction posted on Facebook: "Today was an extremely distressing day for both our visitors and staff. No one could have predicted the damage a freak storm caused.
"We did our best to cope with the extreme conditions that unfolded in a matter of minutes.
"Our parlour suffered damage to the roof, power failures and some visitors suffered minor injuries."
Farmer Raymond Caldert said: "I haven't seen anything like this.
"We had a storm here about 20 years ago, called Hurricane Charlie. I think this has been worse."
While clean-up operations continue, the Met Office has warned that the extreme weather is not over.
Issuing a severe weather warning, the national forecaster said storms could dump up to 40mm of rain in two hours in parts of central and northern England on Wednesday.
The yellow weather warning suggests further thunderstorms and heavy downpours could spark further travel disruption across the region.
A similar alert for thunderstorms is in place in Scotland, with damage to buildings possible "from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds".
There are 10 flood warnings in place across the UK - from North Yorkshire, Lancashire and the West Midlands - with the Environment Agency urging residents to be prepared.
Manchester Piccadilly train station has said services are still disrupted by debris left by a landslip caused by flooding on Tuesday near Beeston Castle.
"Work is expected to continue until at least 4pm," it tweeted. "In the mean time please check (National Rail) for travel updates."
