IT'S official - Ipswich has had a month's rainfall over the last three days.That means more than a million and a half tonnes of water has fallen on to the town since Saturday lunchtime.

IT'S official - Ipswich has had a month's rainfall over the last three days.

That means more than a million and a half tonnes of water has fallen on to the town since Saturday lunchtime.

And we haven't seen the last of the wet weather - more light rain is forecast later today and after a few dry days in the middle of the week, experts at the Meteorological Office in London expect showers to return by the weekend!

Evening Star weatherman Ken Blowers said: “After a week that saw the hottest weather since last autumn, with temperatures reaching 23C, the 24 hour rainfall, up to 9am on Sunday, was 1.15 inches - the highest since September 10 last year.

“Rainfall of this intensity gives 100 tonnes of water to the acre.

“As the town of Ipswich comprises just under 10,000 acres, it means that one million tonnes of water fell on Ipswich in the early hours of Sunday morning.”

Since then a further half inch has fallen over the town - meaning the total over the last three days has been 1.64 inches. The long term average for May is 1.59 inches.

The rain caused problems with standing water on the roads - although there were no reports of any being totally blocked by water.

The cloudburst came just days after the government's Environment Agency warned that South East England was officially entering a drought situation and that heavy rain was needed during the summer to replenish underground water sources.

The rain over the last 72 hours has been good for this - it has been a steady moderate rain which will soak into the ground, not a sudden heavy downpour which tends to bounce off dry soil and flow away into rivers and eventually the sea.

But a spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said much more rain was needed to replenish the underground water levels.

She said: “We don't want to ruin anyone's summer but we still need above average rainfall over the rest of the year to fully restore water levels.

“The rain has been great and has eased the situation - but we do need a lot more of the same.”