This is an urgent appeal.

On Sunday afternoon 27/05/18 during an unprecedentated amount of rainfall, Colebrook Road, Shirley was flooded by the River Cole that runs close by. My Auntie's house was completely flooded out and for a while was standing in 2 feet of flood water. She has lost most of her belongings downstairs, including carpets, furniture, and all appliances; just a few odd bits of furniture were salvaged. On top of these losses the downstairs will need to be dried out, cleaned, sanitised and re-decorated. After a minor flood a few years ago she could no longer afford the high cost of home insurance and so unfortunately is not insured for this flood damage and loss. She is 77 with no savings and with only her state pension as income. She has lived in this house for 30+ years and has never seen anything like this before.

It is difficult to ask for money but we feel we have no other option so, on behalf of my Auntie and my family, I would like to appeal to you to help us to get my Auntie back to normal as quickly as we can. If you can possibly help us to raise some funds to help pay for some of the costs to repair and replace some of the things she has lost, we would be really grateful.

Also any donations of furniture or appliances would be appreciated as would any offers of labour to help put her house back together as quickly as we can.

As you can imagine the devastation this would cause if it happened to any one of us, with or without insurance. Please help if you can.

Just to add, please only donate what you can truly afford. Do not feel pressured into giving what you cannot afford.

I will update this post later. But for now, thank you in advance for anything you can afford to give. Annette and family x