Sweltering tenants living in a city apartment block are refusing to open their windows out of fear that massive rats living in their site will clamber in.
The approach to Great Eastern Court in Thorpe Road is littered with rodent corpses with scurrying sounds heard from the communal bins.
Tenants living in the apartment blocks near the train station believe the sudden invasion of the foot-long vermin is a direct result of the roadworks to install a new bus and cycle lane nearby.
Property management company Rendall and Ritner said it has been working with pest control and has carried out a deep clean of the communal bins.
In the past month the vermin population at the site has spiralled out of control, said Vivek Sharma, 26, who moved into Great Eastern Court in November.
He said: "It's disgusting. The rats are very big actually. I would say they are a foot long.
"I have noticed more of them when I'm going out to the bins.
"At first I wasn't sure if it was common at this time of year as this is my first summer in this apartment."
A rat carcass lies outside the front door of one block in Great Eastern Court.
Around the corner eight rats have been spotted crawling inside a communal bin.
A 44-year-old man living in Great Eastern Court, who did not wish to be named, can see the rats from his living room window on the first floor.
He said: "I don't open my front windows in case they were to climb in.
"Having to shut your windows when the weather is like it is at the moment is not ideal but the rats put you on edge."
The tenant, who works in IT, described the rats as a "nightmare".
He added: "Ever since the roadworks have started in Thorpe Road it seems to have moved the rats around and they have found the nearest food source.
"It has become a bit crazy. I am at my wit's end."
The county council does not believe there is any link between the roadworks and the rats.
The authority highlighted any problems with waste management or infestation would be for the property management company to resolve.
A 24-year-old woman living in the privately owned accommodation said: "They are gross. It's so off-putting.
"It's not just because of the roadworks. It's harder for the bin lorry to get in to park where some of the flats are so rubbish has built up.
"That could have attracted the rats."
A spokeswoman for Rendall and Ritner said the issue is not isolated to Great Eastern Court and the company is working to resolve the rat problem.
The spokeswoman added: "We take the welfare of all our tenants very seriously and have been working with pest control on a course of action and deep clean of the bins.
"The existing baiting programme includes a pest controller on site every six weeks, which we have now changed to every four weeks.
"This issue is not isolated to the development so we will encourage nearby land owners to treat the area where the rats have originated from.
"We will of course keep residents updated.”
Thorpe Hamlet Green city councillor Ash Haynes said there have been "various issues" with rats in the area and her colleagues had been made aware of the problem.
Elsewhere in the area homeowners in Lower Clarence Road have reported rat problems.
Meanwhile businesses have been forced to install anti-vermin measures in order to keep their premises rat free.
Ivelin Milenov, who works in the Rosary Road Convenience Store, said multiple anti-rat repellents have been installed in the shop as well as having an extensive cleaning routine in place.
These gadgets produce a high-pitched sound which scare off rats and mice.
Mr Milenov said: "We keep the shop and outside areas very tidy and clean to stop rats coming here.
"If you look after the shop then you do not have a problem."
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