Britain's biggest pumping station cleared a record amount of water from the Fens as it protected thousands of homes and businesses from flooding.

Paul Burrows, chief executive of the Middle Level Commissioners, said its station at St Germans, near King's Lynn pumped 80,812 megalitres of water - the equivalent of 32,325 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

"This is the most we have pumped at the station over an October to December period," he said.

"In the first 10 days of January 2024, we pumped 30,453 megalitres at St Germans. We also pumped more in December 2023 than in the whole of the 2021/22 year."

Data shows 2023 was one of the wettest years ever experienced in Norfolk, with some parts of the county recording more than a metre of rainfall.

St Germans Pumping station, which stands at the junction of the Middle Level Drain and tidal River Ouse, was built in 2010.

Its electrically operated pumps replaced older diesel-fuelled machinery from an earlier station, which was opened in 1934.