Suffering flooding in your home is life changing! For starters, recovering from flooding in your home takes over your life, its impacts become embedded in your memory often too painful to recall. Getting back into your home can take years on average 6 to 18 months but for some a lot longer; flooding is more than cleaning out with a mop & bucket (just think about that sewage!). If the flood isn't enough to contend with, restoring your home can be full of issues causing unimaginable distress.

The physical toll on mind and body is profound and recovering from the ordeal is aligned to a similar process as that of bereavement. Children suffer quietly, noticing the stress parents are under. Many people who have flooded, are frightened by heavy rain in case it causes their home to flood again. Others find that they are afraid to leave their homes, in case the flood waters return (some people never go on holiday again). Pets and their owners suffer from separation as many rented alternative accommodations needed will not accept animals, so they must be taken to animal homes. Often there are other stresses and traumas that people are contending with before they suffer flooding which just compound the ability to manage effectively physically and mentally. The call for the right help that addresses peoples problems with knowledge and experience is loud and clear! The National Flood Forum needs to get to these devastated areas fast.

The National Flood Forum exists to help flooded people immediately after a flood incident, guiding them through the process of recovery to their homes and to themselves. We help, support and truly listen to people and adapt the support to fit the person in crisis. Once people are back in their homes, we support communities to come together and help them to work in partnership with flood risk management teams to reduce the risk of flooding in their area. We understand what it is like to have your home flooded some of our staff have suffered it too.

As a charity we cover the whole of England and Wales, but we only have two vehicles and our recovery trailer to do this. All three are on their last legs; costing us much in repairs, and frankly are no longer reliable as the picture shows. We do not have the funding to replace them, and yet, our flood trailer and the two vehicles we have are vital to our work. They enable us to go into the heart off communities and to help and support them from the inside out. Our trailer provides a place to have a cup of tea, a safe space to talk about the trauma you have been through, somewhere where you come for advice and support and understand what the next steps are. We are true experts that understand exactly what is needed in the plethora of issues people face.

Please help us raise the funds to replace these vital vehicles so that we can continue to help and support the increasing number of people/communities that flood. Flooding degrades the quality of life of those it impacts, and your donation will help us work with communities to regain a good quality of life once more.