A fun day is planned for Debenham to raise the spirits of the village, which is still suffering with the damage caused by flooding that happened almost a year ago.
Storm Babet struck in October last year and caused floods in the village which were so serious it left students stranded in schools as busses were cancelled.
Vice chair of Debenham parish council Katherine Barlow explained just how bad it was and the ongoing damage it has caused.
She said: “It was very bad. It came up so quickly. It rained all night into the morning.
"Houses were flooded, the vet was flooded and still uses a portacabin. Things still have not gone back to normal.
“We’re hoping this year we don’t get anything like that in autumn. It was very serious.”
But she said it proved the strength of the community.
“Everyone really pulled together. It was amazing, it was really nice to see such community spirit," said the councillor.
“One man with a boat was ferrying people around the houses to safety and the farmers were brilliant.
“They were ferrying the children in their tractors."
The fun day on July 20 and will run from 2pm until 8pm in High Street.
There will be live music from Doghouse and Stand & Deliver, stalls, and families are encouraged to bring a picnic and chairs as part of the day.
Cllr Barlow said: “We wanted to do something that would raise spirits because people are still feeling down, a lot of people are short of money because they didn’t have insurance, and we wanted a day with music and kids having fun on a bouncy castle with face paint.
“There will also be a fire engine coming down, so the children can go and see how it works.
“There will be lots of stalls and a big barbeque, but the main thing will be a stage with music and we have a couple of local bands there.”
“We’re hoping a lot of the village will turn out, it could exceed 500 people.
“I want as many people as possible to turn up so people realise we have a reliable community and everyone is there to help so if the flood does happen again, they know they have people to call on.”
Tayla Brady, who has been on work experience with the East Anglian Daily Times, recalled being at school when the storm hit the village.
Around 150 students and staff at Debenham High School stayed over night in the village hall after being stranded due to flood water.
The Debeham High School pupil said: "The Debenham floods was an overall shocking day to me, just thinking that it was a normal rainy day and then turned into something so much bigger in what felt like 20 minutes.
"What made it so awful was the thought of not being able to get home that night, all roads back to my house were completely flooded and it would’ve been dangerous to even attempt to go home.
"Lucky enough for me, my friend, who lived locally to the school, let me stay at her house for the night so I had somewhere safe to be.
"I don’t think it was until midnight that some of my other friends managed to get back home from school but I managed to leave that evening.
"It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced so it didn’t seem like a massive deal at the beginning, until everyone was talking about getting beds from the community for students to stay the night at school, that was where reality kicked in for me."
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