Floods in Spain – “There are bodies that will never be found. We know that”: members of the usapist penya of Valencia recount their last hours in the chaos
Jordi Mata and Santi Almenar, respectively president and secretary of the penya Els Valencians and invited by the USAP club during the match against Vannes in support of the Valencian people affected by deadly floods, spoke about the trauma and the horror that their people are going through.
“You can’t imagine what a disaster this is.” After the terror of the last hours, words fail Jordi Mata, president of the USAP penya, Els Valencians. However, the terms “fear”, “panic”, “pain”, “terror”, “war zone” punctuate his speech as he traces the climate catastrophe which is decimating the population of southeastern Spain a little more every minute in Valencia. With Santi Almenar, the secretary of this club of around thirty supporters, they have just traveled 550 kilometers by car precisely to attend the USAP-Vannes match, at the invitation of the club. A parenthesis in the midst of chaos. “We appreciate it. But we cannot enjoy it strictly speakingJordi Mata almost justifies himself shortly before kick-off. It’s very complicated and at the same time, it’s very moving.”
Flooded cities, tearful reunions, cars in houses of cards, solidarity chains, empty supermarkets are everyday scenes now in the south-east of Spain near Valencia. Jordi Mata
Life was almost normal for us, while for others it was the apocalypse
Flooded cities, tearful reunions, cars in houses of cards, solidarity chains, empty supermarkets are everyday scenes now in the south-east of Spain near Valencia. Jordi Mata
For Jordi and Santi, the damage is material. The first lives in Maritím, a district in the northeast of Valencia. The second in Benicalap, located north of the city center. “Where the rain was heavy, but that's it. At the height of the bad weather, life was almost normal for usthey apologize. While for others, south of the Turia river, it was the apocalypse.” The daughter of their friend from the penya Daniel Vanaclocha, in charge of Culture for the municipality of Paiporta, “zero zone” as they say, “lost everything.” Another usapist, Guillem Iranzo “no longer has a car and psychologically, he is at his worst.” “Fortunately, from what we know at the moment, we haven't lost anyone. We looked for each other, without being able to reach each other, without knowing where we were, if we were alive, without knowing if we would be able to move around to find ourselves, but on the other hand, around us…” A chilling silence sets in. At the time of the exchange, Valencia deplored more than 200 deaths and 1,900 missing: “There are bodies that will never be found. We know that. Those who disappeared at sea with the flow of water.”
Flooded cities, tearful reunions, cars in houses of cards, solidarity chains, empty supermarkets are everyday scenes now in the south-east of Spain near Valencia. Jordi Mata
Flooded cities, tearful reunions, cars in houses of cards, solidarity chains, empty supermarkets are everyday scenes now in the south-east of Spain near Valencia. Jordi Mata
Flooded cities, tearful reunions, cars in houses of cards, solidarity chains, empty supermarkets are everyday scenes now in the south-east of Spain near Valencia. Jordi Mata
The two men continue: “For 48 hours we had no news from a friend who was working at an emergency center. We thought he was dead.” “A friend looking after children kept them until 5 a.m. on Wednesday in the shelter of the school. She was devastated when we saw her again.” “My 81-year-old aunt welcomed four people into her apartment. She cooked with almost nothing. They started eating nougat.” “My cousin’s car ended up at the beach… 7 kilometers from her house.” And remember, “people screaming, the sound of glass breaking, sirens blaring all day long.”
Chain of solidarity when “supermarkets are flooded with water, in the dark, the shelves are empty”
Flooded cities, tearful reunions, cars in houses of cards, solidarity chains, empty supermarkets are everyday scenes now in the south-east of Spain near Valencia. Jordi Mata
And in the middle of these “scenes from disaster movie or the Walking Dead series”the light of solidarity flashed: “It's important to say it and transcribe it in the media. In the absence of water, food and electricity, the people united. The people of the city by the thousands filled their backpacks of food, sandwiches, carried water bottles and walked for kilometers to the affected communities. Because the supermarkets are flooded with water, in the dark, the shelves are empty. arts and sciences, there was an exodus of volunteers who went to help out in the comarca of Horta Sud, from Massanassa. On the other hand, we learned that the access was there. forbidden in Catarroja. There would be too many corpses.”
Flooded cities, tearful reunions, cars in houses of cards, solidarity chains, empty supermarkets are everyday scenes now in the south-east of Spain near Valencia. Jordi Mata
Santi, former second center in rugby, is an English teacher: “I don’t know when my school in Xirivella will reopen. But my son’s school in Torrent was destroyed.” Jordi, dockworker and flanker when he played, is going to join the port. With in memory, the compassion of the people of Perpignan, who more than ever knew how to show the brotherhood between the Catalan Països.
