DEADLY floods which have swept across the Indian state of Kerala have moved a Barnsley couple to launch their own mammoth relief effort to try and help those who have lost everything.
About 400 people have died and a million have been made homeless by the worst flooding to hit the region in a century.
Paul and Sue Nortcliff run a small bed and breakfast known as a ‘homestay’ near the stricken city of Trivandrum.
Unconvinced that charitable donations will always get to where they are needed, or get there fast enough, the couple began buying supplies themselves and with money sent to them from friends and family back in Barnsley, and former visitors to their guest house.
“We feel privileged to have been in the right place at the right time, and so pleased to have been able to help the people of Kerala who are in desperate need,” said Paul, 66, who lives at Windsor Crescent, Middlecliffe, when not in India.
Wife Sue had put a picture on Facebook at the weekend saying they had donated a 25 kg bag of rice, which costs about £10, but would feed about 140 people.
Sue wrote that if anyone wanted to donate something they should message her and pay her back when she is back in the UK.
Within three days they had amassed more than £5,000 from friends, family and former guests at their homestay, and have used it to buy food, medical supplies, clothing and equipment which they have set about delivering directly to the refuge centres and to the people who need it.
“We hired a big car and just filled it full of equipment and supplies,” said Paul. “One of the big refuge centres is at Alleppey, there’s 400 people sleeping there and they’re feeding about 3,000 a day.
“We hired a big vehicle and took it up there. It was a six hour drive. it should have taken less than three but we could only use the roads we could get through.”
The couple have also helped other centres including one much nearer their home which they will be visiting to help stock today.
The couple have spent a lot of time in India and are used to heavy rain, but say they have never seen anything like the last few weeks.
“It’s totally unimaginable,” he said. “The only way I can describe it is, the worst possible rain you can ever imagine in England, the worst you've ever seen. It’s like that, you don't think it can rain any harder, and then it just doubles. And it carries on for days.”
The couple have been in India since July carrying out maintenance at the property as it is currently ‘out of season’. But work has had to be put on hold and they are instead focusing their efforts on relief.
“We really don’t want any thanks for any of this but I decided to contact the Chronicle because I really want to thank publicly everyone who has got involved and supported this, it’s been incredible,” said Paul.
“A lot of the people who’ve stayed with us over the years are from Barnsley, and South Yorkshire, and people were saying they didn’t want to donate through the Indian government as they weren’t confident the money would get to where it was needed.
“It started with just one post online and it just went viral.”
Sue said: “I thought if we could raise £500 it would be nice, so for people to donate so much it just really makes you realise there’s a lot of good out there. There’s still more money been pledged still to come in.
“We’re just doing what we can.”
