'The home started to flood with my daughter inside. I just wanted to get her out.'

When the rain started falling last Tuesday, it didn't stop. Nervously, Kelly Morgan and her daughter Sophie, 21, watched the Manning River from the verandah of their home in Taree, on NSW's Mid North Coast.

They had no idea what was about to come.

The single mother has been forced to work two jobs to get by amid the cost-of-living crisis. She renovated her home from the ground up by herself, and raised her daughter and son in the four walls of the weatherboard cottage.

It was her home.

"I've lived on that river for 15 years and it's [the floods] never entered my property," Kelly told Mamamia.

"Now I've lost everything. I'm devastated, that was my life."

The moment floodwaters swallowed Kelly's home. Post continues after video.

Five people have been confirmed dead and tens of thousands remain cut-off after record-breaking floods wreaked havoc on the NSW coast. Despite falling river levels, many emergency warnings are still in place.

The hardest-hit communities include Taree, Kempsey, Dungog, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour. The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) estimates that at least 10,000 properties have been damaged in the floods — although this is an early figure.

Kelly said she was shocked by how quickly the situation turned last week. She knew the weather event would be bad, but she never thought her home would be completely inundated.

She didn't know her and her daughter would have to fight for their survival, alongside their neighbours and town.

"By the time we got the evacuation order to leave, we were already cut off," Kelly said.

"There was no way to exit the property."

Kelly and Sophie decided to rush across to the neighbours' two-storey property to shelter alongside them.

Kelly with her daughter Sophie: Image: Supplied.

The river broke its banks hours later.

"It crossed the road. The river was raging past the properties. It engulfed our whole street. The entire village was gone," Kelly said.

By midnight, the water was just three steps from entering her neighbour's house. Frantically, Kelly, her neighbours and Sophie started calling the SES.

"By 5am, we had one step to go, and they couldn't get the chopper to us because they needed daylight.

"We had eight people sheltering in the property with two dogs and my bird. We had a 78-year-old who could not get onto the roof. There was no physical way."

With no ladder, and only a white table to clamber on should the water rise any further, Kelly started fearing the worst.

"That was when it became really scary," she said. "I could see my home next door had gone under, my vehicle had gone under, everyone's vehicles had gone under.

"I was scared. I just wanted my daughter out, I just wanted her safe.

"It's just so terrifying, it was like 's—t is this it'. Like, I would have got her on the roof and done everything in my power to get her on the roof."

By 7am, a noise broke through the din of the raging water, a whir; a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Salvation had come.

"My neighbour had a two-year-old son so they got choppered out first," Kelly said.

"The chopper was just hovering ready to take me and my daughter, but we wound up getting a boat sent to us."

After she was evacuated Kelly saw aerial footage of her home on a TV news broadcast. Image: Supplied.

Kelly now faces the daunting prospect of restoring her home; until it is ready to live in, she will stay with her son, who resides on NSW's Central Coast.

She said they had just recovered from the 2021 floods, in which their shed had been lost. After surviving two floods in four years, Kelly said she is "traumatised" by the sound of rain.

Due to the high cost of house insurance in flood zones, Kelly could not afford any flood cover.

"How do you have insurance? It's over $70,000 a year, that's more than I earn," she said.

"I work two jobs. I work from 6:30am to 3:30pm and then I start my second job at 4pm and work to 8pm. I do that six days a week."

While she faces a mammoth task, Kelly is thankful for one thing.

"I just have to start from scratch. I got my daughter out and that is all that matters," she said.

"The house is still standing. I will rebuild.

"And there are worse people off than me … way worse."

An online fundraiser has been set up for Kelly and Sophie.

Feature Image: Supplied/Channel 7.