As floods ravage large areas of Queensland and New South Wales, many Australians have found themselves stranded, without a home and lacking basic resources. With over 750,000 registered RVs in Australia and in an effort to help those affected, leading caravan, campervan and motorhome rental platform, Camplify, is calling upon neighbourhood van owners, dealers, and manufacturers to help provide temporary emergency accommodation for flood-impacted residents and relief workers, establishing the Camplify Flood Relief Program.

Over 15,000 homes have been flooded in Queensland with over 45,000 homes left without power and over 60,000 people in New South Wales are under evacuation warnings. The Camplify Flood Relief Program is a solution that offers Camplify van owners, existing and prospective, the opportunity to share their van and help a family in need.

Camplify is asking van owners around the affected areas who are interested in supporting the cause to simply submit their interest in sharing their van and the Camplify team will work with local partners and organisations to place vans with those in need. 

Camplify will coordinate everything through insurance providers and are committed to covering the cost of the rental insurance for anyone who volunteers their van through the relief program. Therefore, those who need help, get help and van owners can rest easy knowing their van is fully insured for the period it’s on loan. 

To ensure the Flood Relief Program runs smoothly, Camplify has dedicated an entire team to coordinate the accommodation. Part of the team is focused on working with van owners to answer any questions, get them set up and assess the suitability of their vans for different types of booking requests, while the rest of the team is working with partners and local relief organisations to identify where the vans are needed. They then identify the right van for that particular household and manage the logistics of getting the van delivered to that location. 

Those who are currently not members on Camplify can still offer their vans to help, the team will simply create a private listing that can be shared with insurance providers to connect them with those who need temporary accommodation. This no-strings-attached approach also means there is no obligation to continue listing with Camplify after they have loaned their van to someone in need.

Aware that many Australians will need to be relocated away from their homes due to ongoing flooding, Camplify is also working with BIG4 and other industry partners to provide safe locations for the vans to be parked at where possible.

Justin Hales, CEO Camplify said: “What we are seeing across New South Wales and South East Queensland is devastating. The damage to people's homes and towns has resulted in much pain and uncertainty for many Australians. As a supplier of mobile accommodation, albeit usually for vacations, we see an opportunity to use our community’s assets to help those suffering from the results of the flooding. We are calling on the local van owner community across these areas to help us help others by supplying their vans to the cause. We will coordinate everything from insurance to locating flood affected people in need and helping deliver these vans to them. We hope that we, with the large network of van owners, can offer hope and shelter during such a tragic time.”

To get involved, van owners will need to head to this link and submit their interest, a member of the Camplify team will then reach out to them to discuss next steps.