Following the wall collapse, a torrent of water deluged the town centre within seconds with rescue workers yelling to pedestrians to “get back”.

Garry and Sarah Thompson’s Special Occasions card shop was one of those flooded.

“There’s a serious problem in Tenbury now,” Mr Thompson said.

“We’ve got a risk of businesses leaving the town.”

He said it had taken the town “a good two years” to recover from previous flooding in 2007.

“So that’s pretty scary,” he added.

Paul and Rachel Rogers, from Nature’s Design Studio, described how water entered their shop for the first time after windows broke.

“It’s caused so much devastation,” Mrs Rogers said.

“We have buildings insurance but we don’t have contents insurance. It’s going to cost us.”

The Crow pub also flooded after water overwhelmed sandbags and smashed through windows.

Licensee Paul Birkin described it as a “miracle” nobody was hurt.

“[The water] actually hit the back wall you know, I mean there’s glass all over the place,” he said. “Absolutely distraught.”