The Daily Echo speaks to brave volunteers who risked their lives to help people trapped by storms in Hampshire last February

Diners in a seafront restaurant had to flee for their lives as hurricane-force winds struck the Hampshire coast, damaging or destroying everything in their path.

Rocks crashed through the windows of The Marine at Hurst Road, Milford on Sea, and a huge tidal surge engulfed the ground floor.

More than 30 people were rescued in a joint operation staged by firefighters, soldiers and coastguards.

They formed a human chain as staff and diners waded through the flooded venue, which had been plunged into darkness by a power cut.

After emerging from the badly-damaged restaurant they waited for a break in the crashing waves before dashing across the car park and scrambling into an army truck that took them to Lymington Recreation Centre.

Most barely had time to notice that their cars had been tossed around like toys and dumped haphazardly on the road and beach.

Diners at The Marine were forced to dodge flying stones that ripped through the building “like small cannon balls” while nearby beach huts were reduced to matchwood by winds of up to 100mph.

Jane Hopkins was enjoying a Valentine’s meal with her partner, Greg Pepper, when huge waves began to batter the restaurant.

Speaking at the time she said: “They were full-on waves that must have been 30ft high.

“It looked like a bomb had gone off.”

The ferocious storm struck a year ago today – and left parts of the county looking like a war zone.

This week voluntary coastguards returned to the scene and relived the dramatic moment they helped rescue people from the storm-ravaged restaurant.

Paul Richman, deputy station officer at Lymington, said: “I’ve been a coastguard for 22 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Mr Richman and his colleagues were on their way to a potential flooding incident at Lymington Town Quay when they were diverted to Milford.

They arrived to find the seafront road covered in shingle and huge waves crashing over the top of the art deco-style restaurant.

After emerging from their vehicle they were pelted with shingle and battered by flying debris from nearby beach huts, most of which had been ripped apart.

Standing on the same spot 12 months later Paul said: “It was quite a shocker.

“It took us a while to get into the restaurant because the door was all twisted and buckled and wouldn’t budge. Luckily we’d had a fundraiser there a few months earlier and knew the building really well.”

Staff and diners were sheltering in the back of the restaurant, standing knee-deep in fast-flowing water, when help arrived.

Paul and one of his colleagues, coastguard rescue officer Matt Renouf, 41, said it took them about an hour to perform the rescue.

Paul added: “We kept them safely together and then brought them out two at a time. Most of them were quite calm but they didn’t really know what was waiting for them outside.

“We made two runs in an army truck. We didn’t want everyone in the vehicle at the same time in case something happened.

“The main thing is there were no injuries, which was amazing given the conditions.”

Asked if he was frightened the 51-year-old father of four said: “No. We were on a mission and it had to be done. We’d completed a lot of water rescue training and that really came into its own.”

Paul was one of 12 finalists on the ITV show Daybreak’s Flood Heroes after being nominated by his colleagues.

He was also selected to represent the coastguard service at a Number 10 luncheon hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Other organisations were also stretched to the limit on the night of February 14 2014.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service received more than 230 emergency calls and attended 120 incidents, including a 93-year-old woman trapped in chest-deep water at her home near Lymington.

Southern Electric engineers were called out after hundreds of trees were brought down, leaving 180,000 homes without power.

The exceptionally severe weather, thought to have been the worst since the hurricane of 1987, also caused severe flooding in Winchester and Romsey.

However, the dramatic events at Milford have not deterred romantic couples from wanting to visit the restaurant tonight.

This year’s celebration, featuring Southampton singer Liam White, is fully booked.

One of the restaurant’s tweets says: “Be ‘blown away’ this Valentine’s Night at The Marine.”