“It was apocalyptic,” says Christine, stuck in the Ikea store in Valencia, the city in southeastern Spain, hit by violent floods since the start of the week. This French woman testified in several media about the “nightmare night” she spent Tuesday evening.
“I asked my husband to go to Ikea, and the evening completely went off the rails,” she says. When we were inside, we received an announcement saying that the vehicles had to be moved.” The Frenchwoman remained in the store while her husband headed to the parking lot. “Then another announcement was made saying that we all had to go up to the cafeteria. I called my husband who told me the car was drifting. I leaned down and saw the cars floating. The water rose to 2m50. I was in total panic,” she confided to BFM.
“Clinging to a lamppost, with water up to his knees”
Store staff then began setting up mattresses and blankets. During this time, Christine was no longer able to contact her husband, the network was no longer available. Around 3 a.m., her partner finally managed to give her some news. He is safe and sound, in another store. Trapped by the flood, he was swept away by the current and spent “the night on the roof of the car, clinging to a lamppost, with water up to his knees,” she describes to Franceinfo.
Despite a “great” team with “an area with a doctor to take care of survivors”, the Frenchwoman does not “even know how” she will “be able to leave” the shopping center.
This Thursday morning, search operations for victims continue in the south-east of Spain, in shock after the worst floods in more than fifty years in the country, which left at least 95 dead and many missing.
