Prince Charles has written to the people of Coverack to say how "mortified" he was to hear of the recent flash-flooding and praise the "generous-hearted" clean-up response.

A sealed letter was hand-delivered to chairman of St Keverne Parish Council, Roger Richards, by the Queen's representative in the county, the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho.

In the letter the prince, who is also the Duke of Cornwall, acknowledged the "impossibly difficult circumstances" that villagers found themselves in on July 18, when torrential rain combined with giant hailstones caused rivers to burst their banks and a wall of water to surge through the village. It ripped up roads, destroyed walls and left some houses five and a half feet underwater, with the village becoming inaccessible to all but the emergency services for a time.

Yet despite the devastation, villagers' only response was to begin picking up the pieces and support their neighbours. In less than a week, Cormac and Cornwall Council had completely resurfaced and reopened the road into Coverack, businesses were trading again and visitors were welcomed with open arms.

By coincidence, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla had been visiting Porthleven on the morning after the flooding - something he makes reference to in his letter.

He wrote: "Having visited Porthleven, which had only recent recovered from the terrible winter storms of 2014, my wife and I were mortified to hear that Coverack had been flooded following a similar bout of bad weather.

"I can well imagine how deeply demoralising this must be for the poor, long-suffering residents of the village who have doubtless had their lives turned upside-down by this terrible incident.

"Although I fear this letter is hopelessly inadequate under such impossibly difficult circumstances, and of no comfort whatsoever, I do hope you may be able to pass on to all those who were worst affected by the floods how much we feel for them. My visits to Cornwall merely prove just how special the Cornish are and how generous-hearted people can be when disaster strikes their neighbours.

"My thoughts are very much with you during all these trials and tribulations, and especially at the height of the all-important visitor season."

Parish council chairman Mr Richards said: "I was very surprised to receive a phone call from the Lord Lieutenant saying how Prince Charles wished to pass on his best wishes to the people affected by it and his regard over what happened.

He also echoed the prince's words regarding the clean-up, praising the response of St Keverne firefighters who were first on the scene, Paris Hotel landlord Ian Richards for going "above and beyond" by providing free meals to those flooded out their homes, parish clerk Grace Hatton for helping co-ordinate the response, Cornwall Council and Cormac, vicar Rev Peter Sharpe, the parish councillors and all the volunteer teams that travelled from around the country to help.

He added that donated money would be distributed to those most in need.

"I think it was very lucky that nobody was seriously hurt; I do believe there were people that were physically saved from going over the harbour," he said.