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Taree flood victim Eleasha Duffy chokes back tears speaking about impact of deluge as home is almost destroyed

About 10,000 properties have been hit by the devastating floods, which have claimed five lives.

Taree flood disaster continues

Taree flood victim Eleasha Duffy chokes back tears speaking about impact of deluge as home is almost destroyed

About 10,000 properties have been hit by the devastating floods, which have claimed five lives.

Taree flood victim Eleasha Duffy choked back tears on Sunrise, speaking about how the deluge nearly destroyed her home and all of her young family’s possessions after it hit the NSW town.

Duffy, who is a mother-of-two young girls, has had her home almost submerged after floodwaters rose to waist height.

The family’s furniture, clothing, appliances and children’s toys were all destroyed.

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About 10,000 properties have been hit by floods in the NSW Hunter and mid-north coast regions, after a month’s worth of rain fell in just a matter of days.

About 12,000 residents across multiple towns were still stranded as of early Monday, and crews have carried out more than 770 rescues amid the flood crisis that has led to five deaths.

Insurers have received more than 3500 claims so far, 80 per cent of which are personal property claims.

Taree resident Eleasha Duffy appeared on Sunrise on Monday, after almost losing her home to floorwaters.
Taree resident Eleasha Duffy appeared on Sunrise on Monday, after almost losing her home to floorwaters. Credit: Seven

Duffy joined Sunrise host Matt Shirvington on Monday, fighting tears as she spoke about the devastation impacting her family.

“Everyone is just absolutely heartbroken,” Duffy said.

Duffy panned her camera to a pile of junk in her front yard, saying it was her “entire house” at the moment.

“We have all of our belongings in one room, and basically a carload (of things) and that’s it and it is really not that much left,” she continued.

“The plan today is to reclad all the walls and the kitchen and essentially gut the house, because the water seeped into everything.

“It came up to waist height.”

Duffy said her children were staying elsewhere but she wanted to bring them home.

“(We’re slowly rebuilding) so I can try and bring my kids home. I don’t think they fully understand it,” she said.

Duffy said the water rose higher than she expected.
Duffy said the water rose higher than she expected. Credit: Seven

“They are with their dad at the moment, but until the house is safe, they have nothing to come home to. They have lost everything.”

Duffy she was shocked at how high the water had gotten in the home. She had expected floodwaters would only reach a few inches off the ground.

“We put everything on beds,” she said.

“We took everything off the bottom layer of the floor. When you think of a flood, you think maybe the floor will be affected but not as high as it came into the house.

“There is no preparing for something like this. It is just catastrophic.”

Flood victims will get a bit of government assistance, with federal and state grants soon to be available.

However, Duffy said it won’t be enough to “completely redo the house,” which is necessary following the flooding.

“There is nothing that’s really salvageable in there. Everything is gone,” she said.

Duffy said a lot of people have now been forced to go back to work to earn money to repair their homes, with the clean-up expected to take a long time before it is completed.

Some 60 schools will remain closed on Monday across the impacted regions, as well as 173 early childhood education and care services and seven TAFE NSW campuses. Learning from home resources will be made available.

A cold front with strong winds of 60km/hr to 80km/h due on Monday and Tuesday could hamper recovery efforts, cause damage and bring down trees, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.

The NSW government will open recovery centres in flood-impacted areas from Tuesday, offering a range of support services to affected residents.

A GoFundMe has been organised for the Duffy family.

- With AAP

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