Illustrative photo. Rescue personnel walk with a boat in the flooded part of the town of Staines-upon-Thames, England. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis) (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)
IsraAid UK Floods

Israeli humanitarian organization IsraAID sent four volunteers to Leeds in the UK to help with the recent washout after high levels of rain across northern England.

“The team have already met with small independent initiatives across the north that are delivering food, gutting houses, and helping to rebuild their homes,” said founding director of IsrAID, Shachar Zahavi, the UK Jewish Chronicle reported on Tuesday.

“Our volunteers will assist with the current effort being carried out and use our experience in these disasters to work out what more we can do and how,” he said.

Zahavi noted that while IsraAID’s services are usually designated for disasters in developing nations, the group has also helped out following floods and tornadoes in the United States.

“We wanted to show the community we would be there for them,” he said. While the volunteers are gutting flooded homes, making repairs and distributing goods and supplies, the group is apparently assessing where to send five more volunteers currently waiting in Israel, according to the report.

Leeds was back on flood alert on Monday. British environmental authorities said river levels, while beginning to recede, were expected to remain high.

By: JNS.org