A grandfather has been rushed to hospital after swallowing sewage water when his Chester home was flooded.
Chris Spencer and wife Marlene were forced to flee their house when it was submerged amid Storm Christoph’s downpours.
But as the 70-year-old was making his escape amid the filthy knee-high water, he fell over and swallowed some.
He was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital overnight before being discharged at around 7am on Thursday morning.
His granddaughter, Alex Roberts, who went to help, said: “He had hypothermia as well because he was so cold so he had to go to hospital and while we were trying to take him out of the water I swallowed some sewage water as well so I had to get antibiotics from the hospital too."
The 20-year-old added: "It was just literal knee-deep water surrounding the whole of the houses. We ran in and we then figured out it was all sewage water so you can imagine the smell. Within five minutes it was at least three feet deep."
Mr and Mrs Spencer, also 70, are now staying with their granddaughter and her parents but were struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
"They're not really speaking much, they're absolutely shook,” said Ms Roberts. "My nan is very upset, she keeps crying.”
The couple’s ordeal came as Cheshire bore much of the brunt of Storm Christoph.
Some 40 elderly residents were evacuated by dinghies from the Weaver Court retirement village in Northwich on Thursday afternoon, while another 21 had to be rescued from Lea Court nursing home in Warrington.
Other property evacuations took place in Warrington, Chester, Ellesmere Port and Tattenhal, although incidents of actual flooding appears to remain minimal as of Friday morning.
Spekaing about her grandparents, Ms Roberts said when their property was previously flooded eight years ago, the insurance company did not pay out because the house is bult near a brook – so she has set up a crowdfunding page in an attempt to help.
"Pretty much everything you can think of has been destroyed," she added..
As of Thursday evening, the fundraiser - which had an initial target of £2,500 - had reached £3,500.
