Twenty families were evacuated in an amphibious army vehicle last night be-cause of health risks posed by raw sewage seeping into their homes.

People in the Fordlands Road area of Fulford, York, left either of their own accord or in response to advice from the police after the failure of a sewage pump created a major health hazard.

The sewage affected properties in Fordlands Crescent, part of Cherry Wood Crescent, West Moor flats and three homes in Fordlands.

Some had sewage lapping at their back doors and coming up through toilets and plug holes with risks of Typhoid and Hepatitis.

A decontamination unit containing showers and clean overalls was on hand to be used by anyone who came into contact with the water.

Residents coming home from work to board the 'Fordlands Ferry' - a council truck which has been a lifeline to the residents since the floods started, were checked off by police against a list of properties to be evacuated.

PC Graeme Kynman said: "If they're on this list we'll allow them to get insurance certificates and personal effects together and then we'll get them out."

Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, North Yorkshire Ambulance Service, and the Army's 2 Signals Regiment, based at Imphal Barracks, were all involved in the rescue performed by the Army's Haglunds BV206, a watertight vehicle fitted with rubber tracks designed for mountain combat.

Lottie Liddell, 80, of Fordlands Crescent, and her daughter Christine Kirk, were lifted into the army vehicle by fire fighters in dry suits.

Lottie said: "I moved into this house in 1947 and I've never seen anything like it. The water's in the lobby at the back and it's seeping through the wall."

Lottie, a mother of eight, grandmother of 19 and great-grandmother of 12, said: "I've had a year of it. I was 80 in January, ended up in hospital for three months in May and I've had to move out in November.

"But what can you do. I don't like having to come out but you've got to look on the bright side of everything.

"I've got a big family and I don't know what I'd do without them now."

Jim Crook, City of York Council's director of community services, said: "This isn't a sudden emergency. There's been flood water for several days but the as-sessment of the environmental health officer is that sewage is in the water at an increasing level."

Repairs to the pump were due to begin at first light. Most of the evacuees went to stay with friends and those who did not were found alternative accommodation by City of York Council.

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