The Hull Daily Mail has presented a multi-media dossier of coverage of the floods devastation to the Government minister responsible for the aftermath of the recent disaster.

The move is in support of calls for millions of pounds for relief and reconstruction in East Yorkshire.

The paper gave a folder with its in-paper coverage and a disk containing video reports and pictures of the floods to communities minister John Healey, who is co-ordinating the Government response to the floods crisis.

The dossier was presented by reporter Katy Wood, who was born and bred in Hull and whose parents have been flooded out of their home.

Katy said: “My family has been personally affected by the floods, so I was happy to be able to hand a folder of our coverage over to the minister.

“I hope it will help him and his colleagues to understand the scale of the damage and devastation in this region.”

Katy with the minister

Hull City Council also used front pages and pictures from the Mail to demonstrate to the minister the extent of the damage.

Hull was labelled the “forgotten city” of the floods because it took 10 days for the national media to descend on the city after the deluge on June 25th. The belated national media attention prompted Prime Minister Gordon Brown to visit Hull and announce an initial £14m relief package for flood-hit areas in the north of England.

Hull has been the worst hit area in the country, with an estimated 15,000 homes affected by flooding – half the national total. A further 2,000 homes have been flooded in the neighbouring East Riding of Yorkshire. Schools, public buildings, businesses and roads have also been damaged.

The Mail has been at the forefront of the calls for massive and urgent Government aid.

The day before Mr Healey’s visit, the Mail’s front page illustrated the grim statistics of the destruction in East Yorkshire under the headline “Why You Have To Bale Us Out”.

Sky News and ITN both used dramatic Mail video footage in their reports on the crisis in Hull. The Mail has the only video coverage from the day of the deluge.

The Sky News website carried the Mail’s full video report from the day of the flooding, delivering an additional 1,500 hits to the Mail’s website, www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk. In total the Mail’s flood video reports have been viewed 45,000 times.

Editor John Meehan said: “We felt it was vital to ensure ministers were left in no doubt that this area has suffered massively from flooding and needs the Government’s full support.

“Our multi-media package of pages, pictures and videos demonstrated the scale of the impact extremely powerfully.”

The Mail offered use of its offices as a collection centre for aid for flood victims and within a week more than 5,000 items, including white goods, furniture and bedding, were donated, as well as several cash donations.