A week after the torrential rains which caused devastating floods, the southern suburbs of Valencia remain frozen in chaos. Every day, an uninterrupted line of volunteers continues to use the various bridges and footbridges spanning the brown waters of the Turia River. The equipment of the Valencian volunteers remains the same: boots, shovels and buckets. On the first section of an avenue sliding towards the south, the debris has been partly cleared. Several traders distribute food aid while others remain prostrate under their shattered iron curtain, facing a continuous ballet of emergency vehicles.
Two kilometers further south, in the town of Massanassa, the stagnant mud gives off a pungent odor. A police loudspeaker warns of unsanitary conditions. Each individual is asked to wear a mask and gloves. We easily sink up to our ankles, and the excavators painfully clear the path paved with rubbish. The construction site is titanic. The water rose up to two meters.
“Luckily the volunteers are there”
Coming to help his family, Miguel, 42, has his clothes stained with mud. “We have been abandoned,” denounces this professor at the University of Valencia. “The central state and the regional government are passing the buck. But look for yourself, there is no coordination here. Fortunately, volunteers are there to help. We need a lot more machines to clear the roads. »
Like Miguel, the inhabitants of Massanassa do not hide their disgust at the too late arrival of the aid system, and at its insufficiency. The soldiers, for example, only arrived on site on Monday. Armed with shovels, they themselves seem overwhelmed by the scale of the task. In front of the town hall, transformed into a reception center and logistics platform, residents queue to collect hot meals, diapers or a bottle of water. “It took three days for us to receive food and drink,” breathes Pépé, 27, exhausted. “If help had arrived earlier, we could have saved lots of people stuck in their cars,” adds the young man, in perfect French.
“There are many more deaths, that’s for sure”
Last Wednesday, the day after the floods, Pépé went as best he could to his partner's grandfather's house, whose house is a few blocks away. He then discovered the old man's floating corpse. At 88 years old, Luis was overtaken by the rising waters and asphyxiated by the mud. It took three days for emergency services to evacuate his body. “There’s no organization in all this, it’s rubbish…” says Pépé, his gaze fixed on a wooden rocking chair on which Luis used to swing. “The authorities are playing with the numbers but there are many more deaths than that, that's for sure. »
According to Madrid, the human toll from the bad weather amounts to 218 killed while the number of missing is around 2,500, according to the daily El Diario. The Valencia justice system indicated on Tuesday evening that it had recorded 89 cases of missing persons. Tired and angry, the victims nevertheless rely on the extraordinary solidarity constantly in action since the disaster.
