Family rescued from floods near Kempsey in NSW horrified at what was in the water

RNZ News

23-05-2025

By
Emma Siossian
, ABC
Julie Botfield described the flooding at her property like having a "river in my front and backyard".
Photo:
ABC / Emma Siossian
Floodwaters aren't the only dangers facing those
being inundated this week
on the NSW Mid North Coast.
As rising water lapped the bottom storey of her Clybucca home, Julie Botfield was horrified to see what was coming with it.
"There was spiders galore, all different varieties, lots of frogs, lots of snakes, so, yeah, quite scary," the single mother told the ABC.
Julie Botfield and two of her children evacuate their home.
Photo:
Supplied / Julie Botfield
Botfield, two of her children, aged 10 and 19, and their two dogs evacuated their home near Kempsey early on Friday morning, after watching water come closer during the night.
"The water rose really quickly, to my surprise, I wasn't really expecting it to rise that much," she said.
She woke up and checked her rented property at 2am on Friday and said water was not near her paddock.
"By 4am it was definitely in my paddock and then it just continued to rise up and up, and up until we basically had a river in my front and backyard."
It took just a few hours for floodwaters to inundate Julie Botfield's home.
Photo:
Supplied / Julie Botfield
While she was safe on the second storey of her home, her shed had gone under.
"I was devastated because I knew that all of my belongings, including my car were in the shed, so they're not going to be there any longer.
"It's going to be a really big clean-up."
Botfield had called the SES and triple-0 during the night, however, she had not been evacuated by the morning, so she called a friend who had a boat.
"It was really hard to get everyone in the boat and the spiders were everywhere and the snakes and the frogs, and I didn't want to put the kids in the water to get into the boat," Botfield said.
Once in the boat, she said she was amazed to see how much water had surrounded her home, which had turned from its usual yellow colour to black by the swarming spiders.
Just down the road, Botfield's neighbour Holly Gaddes stayed put.
The pair had kept in touch over recent days and Gaddes had urged Botfield to evacuate.
"Pretty much all throughout the night we were texting each other, just checking the situation at her place, situation at my place, what we were thinking to do," Gaddes said.
Having lived on her cattle farm since 2011, and even longer in the region, Gaddes said she felt prepared to stay, but she did pack some things in a tub just in case.
Holly Gaddes has lived in the region for a long time and on her cattle farm since 2011.
Photo:
Supplied / Julie Botfield
She said while floods do not surprise her after living so long in the area, the speed of this one was different to others.
"The floods that we've had here before usually take a lot longer to get here, this happened a lot quicker," Gaddes said.
"I mean, this time it's a shock because it's a high flood, but higher floods have happened before, so we were prepared, but I guess when it does happen, it is a bit of a shock and especially if it happens quickly."
Despite the latest inundation, Gaddes said she and her husband have no intentions of leaving.
"[My husband] grew up in the house across the road and his family's been farming this land for a very long time, so that's not going to be an option.
"It's such a beautiful part of the world."
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ABC