A Covid-positive mother-of-three has hailed her village's community spirit after her home flooded twice overnight.

Charlotte Taylor and her children were forced to watch helplessly as heavy downpours flooded her Topcroft home on Wednesday night.

While the family have been left with some "quite soggy" Christmas crackers, the children, aged 7, 9 and 11, were able to rescue their Christmas presents to higher ground.

%image(14412546, type="article-full", alt="Charlotte Taylor, with children Max Austin, Evie Austin, and Hattie Austin.")

Miss Taylor said: "Myself and two of my children have tested positive for Covid, and we're waiting for a test for my eldest, so we've been stuck at home.

"I went out to the bin at 7pm last night and noticed the water level was getting high.

Flooding across Norfolk on Christmas Eve

"I had no idea what to do, so I called my boyfriend who told me to roll towels like sausages.

"I knew the roads were impassable and didn't want him to risk it, but he came and helped from outside.

"We had to stay inside helplessly watching it come in so quickly within 20 minutes."

Miss Taylor, 37, thanked neighbours, farmers and members of the community for their quick help.

She said: "It was a brilliant community response. A couple of phone calls and farmers were pulling out fence panels, someone had sandbags without any sand and someone else brought some sand.

"The neighbours wanted to help but couldn't come in.

%image(14527735, type="article-full", alt="Charlotte Taylor's boyfriend Paul Wright with the family's "quite soggy" Christmas crackers.")

"We had to try and shout to people through the windows to keep everyone safe."

After being unable to sleep following the first bailing out, Miss Taylor returned downstairs around 2am on Thursday morning, Christmas Eve, to find water rushing inside again.

She said: "I grew up in this house so I know it has the potential to flood - it did when I was nine in 1992.

%image(14412547, type="article-full", alt="Charlotte Taylor's Topcroft home flooded twice overnight into Christmas Eve.")

"It was a lot worse then, so I think barricading ourselves in quickly helped.

"Luckily the damage is mostly cosmetic and we're unscathed.

"I don't know if it's a blessing, but apparently the house smells like sewage and I can't smell anything because of Covid.

%image(14412548, type="article-full", alt="Max Austin, Evie Austin and Hattie Austin outside their Topcroft home.")

"My eldest daughter was worried about her new school shoes and they floated past on the water, and our Christmas crackers are quite soggy, but it's all things that can be replaced.

"It totally sums up this time. You just couldn't write it.

"The children were really panicking about their presents and getting upset, so to distract them I asked them to move them somewhere high up and luckily they were all saved."