Major flash flooding has hit a coastal village in Cornwall.
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said its crews were attending "multiple flooding-related incidents" in the Coverack area.
A post on its Twitter account read: "Major flooding in #Coverack area please avoid this area & do not attempt to drive through any flood water."
The Met Office said it came after heavy thunderstorms and rain in Cornwall and Devon on Tuesday afternoon.
"There has been some heavy rainfall around," said Met Office forecaster Craig Snell, who said the worst has moved north from the region.
An eyewitness said the wet weather hit Coverack at about lunchtime, but got worse from around 3pm.
"It literally just came over like a massive mist," Karla Wainwright told BBC News.
Ms Wainwright, who works in the village's Paris Hotel, said hailstones the size of 50p pieces smashed small panes of glass on the building.
But she added: "It wasn't until it cleared up at 4.30pm, and we could see over the other side of Coverack, and we could see the stream coming down the main road and going just straight off over the wall into the sea, that we realised how bad it had been and how much water and rain had come down."
Two people were rescued by a coastguard helicopter, based in Newquay, a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency confirmed.
"Six people were in a house and two have been rescued from the house by helicopter," she said.
She said there were no injuries, but had no further details on the rescue.
One eyewitness told how her neighbours lost a shed in the flood.
"It was quite horrendous," said the local business owner, who did not want to be named.
"It was torrential, the water that was coming down our road, but it's all subsided, it's much better now, except for the river itself is still quite a torrent.
"Our neighbours across the road from us, their shed disappeared down the river. Our neighbours, just up the road from us, their oil tank disappeared down the river.
"But luckily nobody hurt, anyway. I think the biggest sufferer is the main road into Coverack. I don't think that is passable at the moment.
"I have never seen such big hails. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing and it was hailing, all at the same time. It was quite amazing really."
Some 50 properties were affected by the flooding, but no injuries were reported, a council spokesman said, although several people were rescued from their homes.
An emergency centre was opened in Truro's County Hall on Tuesday night.
Chief Inspector Mark Bolt, from Devon and Cornwall police, who is leading the response, said: "This will have been a very distressing incident for all those involved and our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected.
"We would like to thank the crews from Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, the Search and Rescue helicopter and HM Coastguard Service for their efforts. "
A council spokesman confirmed some properties in the village and one of the roads suffered structural damage and are due to be inspected by structural engineers.
A local hotel offered accommodation to anyone unable to return to their home, while one elderly resident was moved to a local nursing home.
A meeting is due to be held for residents at the village's Parish Hotel on Wednesday morning, which will be attended by council officers.