RESIDENTS in a York suburb have appealed for help after heavy rains caused sewage to flood their street.

During the heavy rains last weekend, manholes were lifted by water pressure outside several properties in Sawyer Crescent, Copmanthorpe, and human waste mixed with rainwater oozed into the street.

One resident said she had just bathed her children and was putting them to bed on Sunday when she heard gurgling noises from the bathroom.

She said: "When I was putting the youngest in her cot, I could hear a gurgling noise and the toilet was bubbling. When I flushed it, dirty water started to flood up through the plug hole in the bath. It was awful.

"The manhole was has just been lifted and rises up an inch or two through the force of the water, it's like a little fountain or water feature. This was the worst it's been in a couple of years."

John Tyreman said there were five manholes within 30 feet of his property, and each of them was lifted up by the power of the water beneath. He and his wife had returned from holiday after a six hour drive, to find their driveway had been flooded with sewage and rainwater.

He said: "They found a tonne of bricks which might have been a collapsed sewer, and said that cleared it. This was the first time it's happened since then.

"I feel very strongly about Yorkshire Water. We phoned the emergency phone number and they were supposed to come pump the water away. An hour and a quarter I was on hold and that was supposed to be the the emergency number. I just want the problem solved, especially if every time you get a downpour or thunderstorms you're on tenterhooks."

Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer, said he was "deeply disappointed" that the flooding had occurred, despite work by Yorkshire Water to improve the situation.

He said: "Yorkshire Water carried out detailed investigations and even removed a tonne of bricks from the surface water sewers, which we were led to believe had been a major contributory factor to last year’s flooding of the street.

"I was therefore extremely surprised to learn of the further incident this weekend and needless to say I am making further representations to the Council and Yorkshire Water to get to the bottom of this issue once and for all. Local residents should not have to live in fear of the next period of bad weather, so, moving forward, I will be doing all I can to ensure a definitive solution is found."

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said: "We would like to apologise to local residents who have been affected by flooding during heavy rainfall on Sawyer's Crescent over the weekend and for any inconvenience this has caused. 

"We were recently informed of a report of sewer flooding on August 22, a jet van will be visiting the area to carry out investigation work to ensure that there are no defects with the sewer system, as flooding last year was found to be caused by a blockage."