A meteorologist has said parts of East Anglia should have been given an amber warning in the wake of Storm Babet, which left several towns and villages in waist-deep water and devastated homes and businesses. 

Speaking on BBC Radio Suffolk on Tuesday, Dan Holley, who works at WeatherQuest, said many people were unprepared for the extent of the rain, for which the Met Office had given a yellow warning with an estimate of 20mm to 40mm of rainfall. 

While the storm was named last Monday, Mr Holley said it was hard to tell what shape the area of low pressure would take over southern Britain, and therefore difficult to predict which area would be worst impacted.

East Anglian Daily Times: Framlingham during the floodFramlingham during the flood (Image: Kris Wolton)

"Ultimately we knew there would be a lot of rain on Friday but we had low confidence on exactly where that would happen," he said. 

"We had yellow warnings out, I think in hindsight looking at the impacts it needed at least an amber warning for parts of East Anglia.

"Unfortunately because of the low confidence, it was hard to then work out exactly where that would be." 

He added that the storm was unlike anything he had seen in his career and added that, for the Midlands and East of England combined, it was the wettest three-day period on record. 

This comes after Matthew Hicks, leader of Suffolk County Council, has said many were left 'shocked' by Storm Babet's unanticipated devastation. 

East Anglian Daily Times: Dan Holley said many people were unprepared for the extent of Storm BabetDan Holley said many people were unprepared for the extent of Storm Babet (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Hicks said the coming weeks will see "questions asked of the way Storm Babet was anticipated and whether anything could have been done to lessen the impact", and an investigation will take place in due course.

A Met Office spokesperson said yellow and amber warnings represent a range of impact levels and likelihoods and Met Office warnings are not designed to replace Environment Agency flood alerts or warnings.

"It is also important to remember that many things influence flood risk, for example, rainfall in other parts of the catchment area of a river, and flood risk does not end when the rainfall stops as rainfall up river can take hours, if not days, to work its way down river," they said.