Having been swamped by hail and rain a fortnight ago, a wave of risk assessors soon flooded the town and estimates look pricey.

OTTERY'S clean-up bill following last week's weather chaos looks set to exceed £1 million.

Having been swamped by hail and rain a fortnight ago, a wave of risk assessors soon flooded the town and estimates look pricey.

A spokesperson for the Association of British Insurers said total cost of damage to residential homes is likely to be £500,000 with damage to businesses and infrastructure at similar figure.

They added: "the average cost of flood damage ranges from £15,000 to £40.000 per property- given 30 residential houses were damaged, I would say we are looking at more than £500,000."

HomeServe ChemDry UK has contracts with ten of the top twelve national insurance companies and has been surveying the damage on their behalf.

Andy Watts, head of marketing and communications for the fire and flood specialists said it has had 124 claims from properties in and around Ottery and he expects that number to rise.

Assessor Mark Kennedy said: "The damage is extensive, I deal with floods on a regular basis but have never seen hail to this extent.