I will now make an American friendly translation (BTW I grew up in the states so don't get all huffy)

We got more than a foot of rain in one day and during the downpour was at a rate of about 3 inches in an hour

The affected area is bigger than Texas and by affected I mean areas that aren't usually... are now underwater

In Ipswich, the river that goes through the center of town, rose about 60 feet

However, yesterday near Grafton the pub was still serving beer when the customers were thigh high in water