Northern Rivers flood victim Nikki Durant lived in Scott Morrison’s house after her home was destroyed

Nikki Durant has revealed Jenny Morrison’s touching act, after her family’s life was left in disarray by the devastating NSW floods.

A woman whose home was destroyed in the NSW floods has revealed she’s been living in Scott Morrison’s Sydney house ever since, after asking the former Prime Minister’s wife for a favour.

Nikki Durant, who runs a pool cleaning business, had previously worked at the Morrisons’ home and met Jenny. When the catastrophic floods hit her Northern Rivers home in Woodburn, she felt she had nowhere to turn to.

Despite only having met Jenny Morrison a few times, she gave the PM’s wife a call.

“I panicked and called Jenny and said ‘help: I’ve lost my house in the flood and have nowhere to live’. I asked if I could stay, because I didn’t know what else to do,” Ms Durant, 50, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mrs Morrison told her that she and her two sons, 21 and 19, could stay at their home in the Sutherland Shire until late May, when the election took place.

“She basically said: ‘well, you have until towards the end of May, which is election time’,” Ms Durant said.

She said despite not meeting the former PM in person, she still supported his campaign and thought he deserved another shot at the top job. Unfortunately, Anthony Albanese’s election win means she will need to relocate as the Morrison family returns to the Sutherland Shire.

“But I didn’t want him to win just because I’m here in his house, I actually really like the guy. I thought he deserved another go without so much to deal with,” Ms Durant said.

Nikki Durant said she has only met Jenny Morrison a few times.

After getting back to the house and assessing, she will need a new kitchen, cupboards, skirting, wiring and appliances.

Ms Durant thanked the former Prime Minister and his wife for the generosity in the trying period, extending her sympathies to the departing Liberal Party leader.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to provide support for Ms Durant as she rebuilds her home. So far $16,000 has been raised for repairs on her property, which needs a new kitchen, cupboards, skirting, wiring and appliances.

The house is now ready for work to be completed after the record deluge smashed towns in the northernmost parts of NSW.

Mrs Durant said she was a “little bit scared” to be returning home, but said she would make things work.

She’s set up her kitchen on the back verandah and has one working power point for her washing machine and dryer.

The whole downstairs has now been gutted and the top will need to be rebuilt. Workers have cut the gyprock out from a height of 600mm so the whole lot doesn‘t need to be replaced.

Ms Durant thanked the former Prime Minister and his wife for the generosity in the trying period, extending her sympathies to the departing Liberal Party leader.

“I was devastated for him. I think he’s done an amazing job, I quite often defend him when people bag him out. He did alright under the circumstances and kept our country going.

“Jenny is a lovely lady ... I so appreciate everything they’ve done.”

Mrs Morrison didn’t hesitate when Ms Durant asked her for help. Picture: Jason Edwards

The house was built for floods on the bottom level however flood waters got so high that it exceeded the last flood record (4.7m in 1954) by 2.5 metres.

Originally published as Northern Rivers flood victim Nikki Durant lived in Scott Morrison’s house after her home was destroyed