Dozens of pensioners at a retirement village were stranded by flooding caused by Storm Christoph.
Weaver Court in Northwich, Cheshire, was surrounded by water but a councillor said the 49 residents and staff were "safe and in good spirits".
Firefighters have begun using boats to rescue the residents and take them to a nearby hotel.
Homes near Lymm were also among those flooded by the River Mersey with "no way of stopping the water".
Northwich councillor Sam Naylor said the power had been off at Weaver Court since "teatime" on Wednesday and there was some concern about elderly residents and those with dementia.
Labour MP for Weaver Vale Mike Amesbury said it was a "drastic situation" with residents who are "anxious, elderly and frail and feel somewhat stranded".
The first retirement home residents of weaver court in #northwich rescued as building is evacuated. More @BBCNWT pic.twitter.com/B0J7g2EG7j
— Yunus Mulla (@yunusmulla) January 21, 2021
The company which runs Weaver Court, First Port, said it was working with the council to "safely evacuate residents to a nearby hotel".
The same area was flooded after heavy rainfall in November 2019 but the retirement village was evacuated before it struck.
Cheshire West and Chester Council said residents from Weaver Court and another retirement village nearby, Marbury Court, would be taken to a hotel "in a safe and socially-distanced manner".
McCarthy Stone, which runs Marbury Court, said it was working closely with the council and emergency services on the evacuation.
Meanwhile, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was rescuing 21 people by boat from Lea Court nursing home in Warrington.
It said it had attended 134 incidents between 07:00 GMT on Wednesday and 07:00 on Thursday and were continuing to be called out.
Supt Julie Westgate, from Cheshire Police, said a number of residents had been evacuated in Warrington, Northwich, Chester, Ellesmere Port and Tattenhall.
Severe flood warnings - meaning there is a risk to life - remain in place for the River Bollin at Heatley, the River Bollin and Agden Brook at Little Bollington and the River Dee at Farndon.
The Environment Agency said it was working with the council and United Utilities to get floodwater in Northwich "back into the river".
The Cheshire town lies at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane.
A spokeswoman said the issue was now one of "surface water", which it was working to pump back into the waterway.
Gabrielle Burns-Smith's home on the outskirts of Lymm has been flooded.
"It's awful and it happened so quick that there was just no way of stopping it," she said.
"We just did our best. Everybody helped, all the businesses nearby.
"So much water has come down and it's tough."
Merseyrail said services on the Chester and Ellesmere Port line remained disrupted because of flooding, with bus replacement services running.
Northwich Fireplace Centre said it had been a "terrible morning for our business again" after flooding in the town centre.
Police said Town Bridge was closed due to rising waters and asked people to avoid Northwich town centre if possible.
Warrington Borough Council said the flooding in some areas on Wednesday night was "beyond any levels previously recorded".
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2021-01-21 16:46:00Z
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