OKEHAMPTON?S search and rescue charity RAPID-UK has been working round the clock during the recent flooding in the South West. The charity?s operations director John Holland, who received the OBE earlier this year, has been controlling 20 rescue boats which have been working flat out in the Gloucester area. RAPID UK volunteers rescued more than two dozen people from a stricken caravan park on Sunday and Monday, and on Tuesday their boats rescued more than 15 people from fast rising floods. The Gloucestershire floods are the worst in the UK since 1947, and one challenge which the RAPID UK team is now facing is the problem of keeping Gloucester?s power station safe from the rising waters. This challenge has been made all the more difficult because the charity?s operational headquarters at Quedgely in Gloucestershire is currently under water for the second time in a month. Director of RAPID-UK Graham Payne, who also received an OBE this year, said that its volunteers have been so busy saving people from the floods that they do not yet have any clear idea of what equipment they themselves have lost through the flood. It is certain, however, that the charity will have to find new premises. RAPID-UK (Rescue And Preparedness In Disasters) is supported solely by donations from the public and all of its members are volunteers. The charity operates abroad ? and, as this week demonstrates, also in the UK ? in the search and rescue of casualties following major disasters. Using specialist training, they have attended earthquakes and hurricanes as well as floods in more than 24 countries around the world.
