7 September 2012 Last updated at 13:58 ET

Egremont house collapse: owner Ken O'Hara tells of shock

Mr O'Hara said he felt lucky no one was in the house at the time

The owner of a house that was "sucked" into a Cumbrian river has described the aftermath as "complete devastation".

Ken O'Hara and his partner Brenda Taylor got a phone call from police early on the morning of 28 August.

He said: "When it was the local police we were expecting maybe someone had burgled the house, we never thought for one minute that half of the walls would be in the river."

Mr O'Hara has not yet decided whether to rebuild the house.

The couple suffered more sadness when their hotel and brewery, the Blackbeck Inn, was hit by flash flooding and a motorcyclist was killed in a collision outside the premises.

Mr O'Hara said: "It was quite a long week for us. Luckily for us on the Bank Holiday weekend no one was in the house.

"We went to the house and walked round the back and we saw the picture that everybody has seen in the paper. It was absolute devastation."

The couple's business was hit just days later.

"We had heavy storm weather here and the water came into the hotel and flooded the whole downstairs area," Mr O'Hara said.

The couple lost all their possessions that were stored at the house, as did four contractors who were staying there at the time.

Mr O'Hara has been working hard to get his hotel back up and running

Mr O'Hara told BBC Look North of his shock at seeing the house in the immediate aftermath of the floods.

He said: "When you get a phone call at that time of the morning you know it's going to be bad news, it's never someone phoning you up to tell you you've won the lottery.

"Even when the girl told me the building had been sucked into the river I thought maybe it's a miscommunication and there'll be a bit of repair work to be done but when I got to the house it was complete devastation.

"It was like a doll's house."

The house is now being demolished and the couple have been liaising with their insurers.