POLICE have warned motorists to dip their headlights and take extra care today as heavy rain hits Suffolk.

POLICE have warned motorists to dip their headlights and take extra care today as heavy rain hits Suffolk.

The Met Office has warned that a band of heavy rain from the south west will move eastwards.

Gusts of 66mph hit the county today, with the container terminals at Felixstowe shut for most of the day due to the dangerous conditions.

Inspector Bruce Gent from Suffolk Police said: “We are in receipt of a flash warning from the Met Office and please can all motorists use their dipped headlights and keep their speed down to an appropriate level.”

In Felixstowe, Operation Stack was in place, causing long tailbacks out of the town towards Ipswich as lorries queued to get into the port.

But the jams dissipated when the port was re-opened later, after an announcement from container yard managers that it was safe for the quayside cranes - which cannot operate in wind speeds above 45mph - to resume work.

Operations were able to re-start in both the rail and container terminals and once the in-gates opened lorries were able to move off the dual carriageway.

A Met Office spokesman said Suffolk and Essex were in the firing line for tonight's downpours.

“A band of heavy rain across the South West now will continue to move eastwards across the evening. From mid-evening to midnight perhaps as much 15mm of rain will fall over the space of a short period of time.”

He added it would cause some problems in areas which were already experiencing swollen rivers.