Deadly floods in Spain: “The population is devastated and angry”, confides Robin Haon from Valencia from Nîmes

Robin Haon, based in Valencia as a sports physiotherapist, experienced the dramatic bad weather on Tuesday October 29, and the aftermath with scenes of chaos and the citizens' clean-up operation in which he participated.

Could you describe to me what you observed on site?

I noticed chaos, a lack of everything: coordination, physical means, a lack of water and food. People have nothing and the authorities do nothing against a backdrop of political quarrels. Madrid doesn't move because Valencia apparently doesn't want to ask… These are images of war, everything is devastated.

A few days after the disaster, how do you feel and how are the population reacting to this situation?

The population is devastated but above all revolted. I am physically exhausted because I spend my days helping in the affected villages in Alfafar, Benetusser and Paiporta. But there is a glimmer of hope because every day thousands of people go on foot to help people, due to lack of help from the competent authorities…

You are participating in the great chain of solidarity I imagine, what is most urgent and how is mutual aid going?

The help is voluntary, a shovel, gloves and hours of walking. We are not organized but there are tens of thousands of us. We wander the streets looking for people to help: empty houses, clean them, remove vehicles, etc. The urgency is to remove the water and mud before it dries. Then, you have to find food and water of course.

You who know the floods in Nîmes and the Gard, does this phenomenon resemble that experienced in our region?

I wasn't born in 1988, but I lived through the years of the 2000s, and honestly, it's incomparable… I visited apartments where there was two meters of water here or nothing was recoverable . We could reach the mark of 2,000 deaths (for the moment, the first report shows more than 200 deaths, Editor's note).