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A woman rescued by kayak from the deck of her Coromandel home says she has never seen flooding like it \u2013 not even during Cyclone Gabrielle.<\/p>\n
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Jazmyn Welch said when help arrived this morning, her home at K\u016baotunu, north of Whitianga, was surrounded by neck-deep, fast-flowing water \u2013 and it was still rising.<\/p>\n
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The first she knew was when her partner, Holly, got up for work about 5.30am.<\/p>\n
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\u201cShe came into the room, burst open the door, and said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to get up now, because the whole entire outside of the house is water, like eye-level water.\u2019 It was so high, and it was getting higher and higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Welch called her father\u2019s partner, a volunteer firefighter, who swung into action straight away.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey organised a kayak, and my dad came and rescued us from the balcony. The water was getting higher as we were on the phone to Dad\u2019s girlfriend. Our house is on stilts and at that point I\u2019d say the water was probably up to my neck.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe current next to us was rushing so fast, our barbecue was gone, the gas bottle was floating on the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Jazmyn Welch (left) was rescued by a kayak from her flooded home in K\u016baotunu on Wednesday morning. Photo \/ Peter de Graaf, RNZ<\/p>\n
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Her father, John Welch, took the women to safety one at a time, paddling through trees to the nearest dry land about 100m away.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe have a massive backyard and it was completely underwater. Luckily we moved our cars to higher ground the night before.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Welch and her partner took only their car keys, passports, phones and a change of clothes in dry bags.<\/p>\n
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They stacked the rest of their belongings on high shelves and on top of the beds, and blocked any gaps under the doors as best they could.<\/p>\n
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All they could take was their phones, car keys, passports and a change of clothes each, in dry bags provided by the fire brigade.<\/p>\n
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With a lot more rain expected overnight, she feared the house would go underwater.<\/p>\n
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She and Holly were now staying at her father\u2019s home, but Civil Defence had opened up K\u016batonu Hall for other residents, her neighbours included, who needed to evacuate.<\/p>\n
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