A grandmother who suffers from a serious lung disease was forced to leave her house in the middle of the night because of “disgusting” raw sewage smells.

Water giant Anglian Water has now apologised after Susan Smith, 65, of Robeck Road, Ipswich, complained over the stagnant odour drifting in to her home from the River Orwell.

The company explained a pumping station issue which caused the “increased odour” has now been rectified.

But Ms Smith, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and struggles to walk without losing her breath, said the problem escalated during the recent two-week heatwave.

In one severe outbreak, she had to leave her home during the night to stay at her daughter’s.

“The smells have been disgusting.” she said. “It was pure pandemonium for those two weeks. I had to keep my windows shut which wasn’t nice during the heatwave. Young and old people have suffered a lot.”

Antony Innes, Anglian Water spokesman, said: “We are very sorry odours from our Cliff Quay water recycling centre have impacted on customers in the Robeck Road area recently.

“A chemical dosing problem at a pumping station meant sewage was turning stagnant before it reached the site, causing an increased odour.

“Measures to stop this have now been put in place and we will continue to monitor the effect this has on odours in the area in coming weeks. We are confident this problem has now been solved and should see things return to normal for customers living near Cliff Quay.”