Residents of a Cheshire town fear they may well be the unluckiest in the UK - after a string of unrelated disasters.
The community of Northwich is reeling from a devastating building collapse at its train station last month, the latest in a line of disasters and difficulties the town has faced in recent years.
Train users were left stunned when the gable collapsed just after 10am on Tuesday May 18, falling through the canopy and crashing on to the platform below.
Due to the debris on the platform and strewn across the railway line, the station had to be closed for almost two days, during which the building was partially demolished.
Fortunately, nobody was killed or hurt in the incident but for many residents it was a case of 'not again', with the town having already suffered from two rounds of severe flooding, a devastating fire at the town's historic market and the pandemic in the last two years alone, CheshireLive reports.
The once-bustling market town has also witnessed the loss of some of its biggest department stores, including the historic Bratts store and its Marks and Spencer.
Following the train station incident, the town's mayor Cllr Sam Naylor described it as 'another body blow' for the Cheshire town.
He said: "For the last couple of years it has just been one thing after another for Northwich. Flooding twice, losing M&S, losing Bratts, the pandemic and now the railway station is virtually destroyed.
"But Northwich people are dead resilient, we will bounce back."
In October 2019, a total of 26 properties flooded across Northwich town centre, Weaverham, and Lakeside Caravan Park near Winsford.
A number of properties had to be evacuated and a 65-year-old man was rescued, with some residents reporting that the water level came up to their chests.
A report into the incident was published this year and put the majority of the flooding down to heavy rainfall.
Just a few months later, in the early hours of January 3 2020, Northwich's iconic market building caught fire.
Firefighters battled the blaze for about 24 hours but the building could not be saved due to the extensive damage, with traders suffering huge losses.
An investigation into the cause of the fire concluded that it was likely down to an electrical fault.
Then the pandemic hit in March 2020, causing widespread hardship across the business community in Northwich, which had already lost the iconic Marks and Spencer store the year before.
Then, to add insult to injury, Storm Christoph brought another wave of floods across Northwich in January this year, with the town centre rendered inaccessible as large parts of Witton Street, High Street, Chester Way and London Road were left under water.
Several business owners said they had suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage as a result of the floods, with some facing difficulty getting money from insurers.
Then there were more high street woes as the iconic Bratts store closed its doors in April after around 160 years in the town.
Clare Niven, a director of White Ribbon Boutique, has a store on High Street, which suffered during the pandemic as well as between £15,000 and £20,000 of damage in this year's floods.
She said: "It just seems to be one disaster after another.
"When we opened there seven years ago it was because we believed it was going to be a thriving town, it was just on the cusp of its potential and then it's just had knock after knock after knock."
She believes the town was struggling even before the pandemic hit in March, with what she describes as their 'flagship' Northwich store hitting a slump 12-13 months earlier.
She said: "We built up a massive customer base but things in retail started to drop off about 12-13 months before the pandemic and I think a lot of that was due to Brexit and fears people had about how life's going to change, so people naturally behaved more cautiously.
"We had already been worrying about our store in Northwich in particular, which just hit a massive slump.
"There were a couple of businesses that were just popping up then closing, which did nothing to help the town.
"Northwich has a lot of stores to attract people in, so it should have a better footfall and it just isn't there."
Nonetheless, Clare says her business is staying put as she 'believes in the town' and wants to see it thrive.
"The people of Northwich want their town to be great," she said.
"I believe it has got potential, despite all the negative things that have happened. It needs some good news and some positivity. We believe in the town and we are staying."
Paul Johnson owns Johnson Gentlemen's Hair Salon on Queen Street, which was also affected by the flooding in January.
He said: "It's been quite mad when you put it all together. It's just been so difficult for everybody collectively.
"Everyone has been struggling. The businesses have been closed, then you reopen to try and get back to normal, then you're closed again and then the floods came.
"I think all the negative things that have happened are having a proper effect on people. There's been loads of bad news."
On the high street, he said: "I think it's suffering from a mixture of lockdown and people ordering online. How some businesses have survived I don't know.
"Bratts closing is terrible for the town. But it is so easy when you're sat at home, you don't have to go out and you can click on your phone to get what you want by the next day."
Despite the various crises that have hit Northwich, there are reasons for optimism, reports Cheshire Live, with a mini revival to the west of the town centre with venues like the Salty Dog, the Salthouse, The Bullring Bar and Barons Lounge.
Plans have also been approved to turn the vacant Retros Music Bar into a nutrition club with the former Game and Optisavers units on Leicester Street set to become the new home of Betfred.
And work has begun to turn the site of the market into a temporary recreational space, which will include trees, shrubs, public seating and an open-sided canopy where small-scale events could be held.
