Parts of the region saw a quarter of an average year’s rain fall in just one day yesterday, experts have revealed.

As heavy rain plummeted down, southern and western parts of the county saw “crazy” amounts of downpour, particularly around the East Harling area.

According to estimates of meteorologists at Norwich-based Weatherquest, around 160mm fell on the west Norfolk village on Sunday alone, across the space of just five hours.

Posting on Twitter, Weatherquest’s Dan Holley wrote: “Radar estimates suggest as much as 160mm may have fallen near East Harling and Larling.

“That’s 25pc of the average annual rainfall.”

Mr Holley described the amount of precipitation as “crazy”.

Sunday saw the Watton area particularly affected, with emergency services inundated with calls relating to flooding and rainfall - with some 27 callouts in the space of just four-and-a-half hours - and saw a couple forced to vacate their home in Aircraft Drive.And torrential rain also brought back sinkhole troubles for Sheringham, which last year saw the town grind to a half for several days. The new sinkhole, which opened up on Cromer Road, also led to flooding around Tesco and the fire station.

The downpour brought to an end a lengthy dry spell for the region, which in places saw temperatures exceed 30C and some of the weather stations around the county not see a drop of rain in some 18 days.

However, while the south-west of the county was heavily hit, the central parts - particularly around Norwich - saw very little rainfall, save for a few showers.