A native of Torrent, the former professional player Marta Peiró (Valencia, Huelva, Servette Genève) was closely affected by the terrible floods which buried several towns in the Valencian Community. Having become a journalist, she tells how part of her family lost everything and explains the political inaction which led to such a heavy toll, which exceeds 150 deaths. She launched a fundraiser (the link is at the bottom of the article) to help her loved ones and all the people affected by this tragedy.
Flashscore: Images of villages in the Valencian Community under water have gone around the world. Where are you and how are you?
Marta Peiró: I am from Torrent, like my parents, and the rest of my family lives in Picanya. My aunt and uncle on my mother's side lived next to the “barranco Poio”, the ravine where the river passes and which overflowed. The entire lower part of Torrent is inaccessible, it is covered with mud and rubble. Picanya is completely inaccessible, the highway that connects Valencia to Torrent, Picanya and Paiporta is unusable. The situation is catastrophic, tragic, Dantesque. I never imagined I would see this in my life. I am young, I am only 26 years old but my father who is 61 and who has seen others, has never seen anything like this.
You have been a player but you are also a journalist. Beyond your personal emotion, you also have a professional analysis. The question is simple: while the weather alert was announced at 7 a.m., how could the local authorities wait so late to issue the alert, at 8 p.m., when the streets were already in torrents?
I can't tell you, but all I feel right now is outrage. Reading the tweets, the weather alerts from the national agency, the more than late reaction of the president of the Valencian Community (Carlos Mazón Guixot, of the Partido Popular located on the right of the Spanish political spectrum, editor's note) is incomprehensible when looking at what was announced. I feel a lot of rage, a lot of pain because nothing was anticipated for the population in any way. The authorities did anything and that's why there are so many deaths. In fact, people were going about their daily lives at 5-6 p.m. They obviously wouldn't have done this if they had sensed that such a thing would happen.
According to several sources, the budget for emergency aid in the event of natural peril which was €17M was cut in favor of financing bullfighting festivals. Are local people talking about it and does this amplify their anger?
Honestly, I don't know, but I actually saw this information. But if this is so, it increases my feeling of indignation tenfold.
No matter the location, you always have to wait for a tragedy to react.
It is all the more revolting as these rainy episodes, the “cold drop”, return more and more frequently and with ever more violence. It's worthy of a tropical storm, with tornadoes. The problem is that nothing is being done. The protocols must improve, or even change altogether, because we see that no guarantee is provided to the population regarding their safety. There was no alert message! We must realize that the president of the Valencian Community said publicly on Monday that from Tuesday 6 p.m., it would no longer rain… before deleting his tweet. This demonstrates the level of incompetence. I see that human life has no type of value for some people. As I speak to you, the count shows more than 140 deaths.
This is all the more frightening as Spain is a growing country, a prominent member of the European Union.
We are used to seeing such statistics in third world countries. In Europe, we live in a sort of bubble. It's absolutely catastrophic and I admit that I could never have imagined that it could one day affect my family so closely.
You have launched a Leetchi fundraiser: can you tell us more about it?
As I wrote in the description, it is especially for my family. Clearly, my aunt and uncle lost everything, absolutely everything. Clothes, furniture, house: they have nothing left. We don't even know where their cars have gone! They no longer even have drinking water or food, the electricity came back at 6 p.m. The supermarkets were completely emptied, my parents were able to bring them food. In addition, the mud has dried and we must try to clear it away. They experienced trauma. This pot will help my family rebuild their lives but part will be used to redistribute to the people affected in Torrent, Picanya and Paiporta.