Huge Water Damage on House after Floods

Hi there,

My name is Philipp and I'm collecting funds for my single mother Kathy (54) in Germany, a victim of extensive water damage in her house due to risen water levels and floods in Germany.

On Christmas Day, Dec. 25th my mum woke up at 7 am to a 10cm wet floor. Almost the whole basement was flooded, including one living room area, one bedroom, two storage rooms and the outside staircase. Shortly after, the fire department arrived and pumped the outside staircase towards the basement empty. They already mentioned at that point that the water would continue to flood, as it was destroying and pushing up the tiles already.

After different attempts from friends, we tried different pumps, which either didn't work or weren't enough. We spent the next 24 hours (day and night) non-stop scooping water with buckets to prevent more water from coming inside. At some point, we could arrange a pump that was working non-stop for the next coming days.

As the water and its moisture were crawling into the walls, we needed to empty 3 rooms completely (as they started to become moldy) i.e. the flooring of those 3 rooms (carpets, laminate, linoleum), a closet with clothes, cupboards, a bed, chairs and tables, one storage room filled with food and drinks (which had to be relocated to my grandma) and another storage room with plants and many other things that were stored. Huge ventilation installations are now running day and night (and still for the next coming weeks) to try to get the moisture out of the walls, which has already gone up to 40cm.

Currently, my mum has no available funds to cover the damage. Sharing more background information: She is in the middle of her divorce from her marriage of about 30 years with my father, whom she has to pay out his financial part of the house, which creates a lot of financial issues for herself. She does not want to sell nor leave the house, as they built it by themselves from scratch and to which she worked for her whole life. Additionally, she has to take care of my 84-year-old sick grandma and her house by herself and work a 40-hour-week job to get by.

We definitely would never shared this private story nor asked for any kind of help if we did know any other way. We know and understand the struggle of having no money, hence we can appreciate any small gesture.

Kathy & Philipp