EMERGENCY services went looking for more than 30 casualties as they mocked up a Boscastle-style disaster in Lydney.

Experts fear the town could be hit by the same kind of flood which ripped through the Cornish fishing village in August 2004.

But they cannot be sure Lydney would get off so lightly as the people of Boscastle, who escaped without any deaths or major injuries.

Around 200 members of the emergency services are being trained to expect the worst and look for people who could be swept towards the harbour or out to sea by the torrent.

The three-day exercise, which continues tomorrow, deals with the aftermath of any flood after the waters have receded.

In Boscastle, 75 cars, five caravans and six buildings were swept out to sea and the force of the water destroyed 100 buildings. A total of 150 people had to be rescued by helicopter from roofs and trees.

Sgt John Garner co-ordinated the search and rescue phase of the Lydney flood plan behalf of the county's Local Resilience Forum.

He said: "Lydney shares a lot of geographical and geological similarities with Boscastle so we are preparing for that kind of situation."