Rising from the Ruins: Valencia Residents Battle to Rebuild Lives as DANA Leaves Trail of Destruction
Tractors roar through the narrow streets of Chiva, stopping or slowing down only briefly to allow people to throw broken doors, smashed furniture and other debris into the flower beds before continuing their way up, away from the epicenter the destruction.
By Teresa Medrano and Joseph Wilson
Chiva, Spain, November 2 (AP) – The barro cover your shoes, is splashing his tights and the gloves with which he holds his broom. Brown spots dot his cheeks.
The mud covering Alicia Montero is the typical dress of the improvised volunteer army that, for the third day on Friday, They shoveled and swept the mud and the debris and they filled the small town of Chiva in Valencia after the flood sudden storms will ravage the area. Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory has left at least 205 people dead and untold numbers missing, and countless lives shattered.
As police and emergency workers continue the frantic search for bodies, authorities appear to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster, and survivors are relying on the esprit de corps of volunteers who have rushed in to fill in’ r empty space.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people in cars and on foot have been arriving from the city of Valencia to the suburbs to help, Montero and his friends are local residents of Chiva, where at least seven people died when a storm unleashed Tuesday her fury.
“I never thought this could happen. “I’m excited to see my town in this state,” Montero said The Associated Press. “We’ve always had fall storms, but never like this.”
He says he narrowly avoided flooding while driving home on Tuesday, and if he had returned to the road five minutes later he believes he would have been swept away like dozens of cars still stuck on the road which crosses a floodplain between her town and the city of Valencia, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the east.
Tractors roar through the narrow streets of Chiva, stopping or slowing down only briefly to allow people to throw broken doors, smashed furniture and other debris into the flower beds before continuing their way up, away from the epicenter the destruction.
Meanwhile, residents and volunteers are shoveling and sweeping layers of mud covering the floors of ruined shops and houses in a wild atmosphere. People carry buckets of water from a large decorative pool in a town square to clean the mud. Three young children take a break from kicking a football on the slippery street.
A town demolished. Help not arrived. Help will come when they come to take the picture.
Isn’t there a protocol for this? An emergency cabinet?
Do you know people live here?
Bodies are still being removed from homes.
Chiva (Valencia) 445 l/m2 pic.twitter.com/5KwlnWfZC4— Migue Carrión (@MiguelTrg) October 31, 2024
The newcomers are easy to spot because they are clean, but a few steps along Chiva’s slippery cobblestones and they are quickly marked with mud.
“How many hours have we been doing this? Who knows,” said Montero while taking a break from cleaning near a ravine the previous days that had been covered by a wall of rushing water.
“We work, we stop to eat a sandwich they give us and we continue to work.”
DEATH BY MUD
“So much mud in the streets as if the waters had receded from the face of the earth,” is Charles Dickens’ description of London in the 19th century in his novel “Bleak House.”
In Chiva and other parts of Valencia – Paiporta, Maanasa, Barrio de la Torre, Alfafar – mud has become synonymous with death and destruction. Mud has seeped into homes and cars, destroying some vehicles and lifting and moving others easily.
This week’s storm has left more rain in Chiva in eight hours than the town had suffered in the previous 20 months. The deluge has caused flooding that has collapsed two of the town’s four bridges and made crossing a third dangerous. The waters have now receded and the Civil Guard divers have left, but police continue to search the ravine, the destroyed houses and underground garages, fearing the mud may be hiding more bodies .
“Whole houses have disappeared. We don’t know if there were people inside or not,” the Mayor of Amparo Fort told RNE radio.
Citizens fill the void left by the authorities
So many people are coming to help the most affected areas that authorities have asked them not to drive or walk there, because they are blocking the roads needed by the emergency services.
This can’t be fixed in two weekends with shovels and buckets, people. My feeling is like a drop of water in the ocean. Heavy machinery and professionals are required. But despite the lack of medicine and the discouragement and the feeling of abandonment, there we are, like little ants. Dignity. pic.twitter.com/QPdlXjcRVq
— Fernando Chiva · Ferran Chiva (@Ferran) November 2, 2024
“It is very important that you return home,” said the regional president, Carlos Mazón, who thanked the volunteers for their good will. The regional government has asked volunteers to gather in a large cultural center in the city on Saturday morning to organize work crews and transport.
On Thursday night, electricity was finally restored to the 20,000 residents of Chiva, although there is still no running water. City councils have distributed water, food and basic necessities in the towns of Valencia affected by the floods, and the Red Cross is using its extensive support network to help those affected.
In Chiva, Civil Guard agents have been searching for bodies in collapsed houses and the gorge, and directing traffic. Firefighters help ensure the safety of buildings. Around 500 soldiers have been sent to the Valencia region to distribute water and basic products to those in need, and more are on the way.
But so far there are no military units in Chiva, where the wave of solidarity among ordinary citizens underscores the dearth of official support. The atmosphere is that of the townspeople moving on.
A man cries inside the Astoria movie theater, which has been converted into a supply depot. The theater is filled with piles of water bottles and fruit. People prepare sandwiches. A group of young people arrive and leave bottles of water before grabbing shovels and brooms and joining the shoveling.
On the other side of the square, in front of the town hall, a sign states that everyone can bring two bottles of water a day. Volunteers hand out baguette sandwiches.
After cleaning out the bakery that has been in her family for five generations, María Teresa Sánchez hopes it will survive, but she is not sure if her 100-year-old oven can be saved.
“It will take a long time for Chiva to recover from this,” he said. “But it’s true that we haven’t felt alone. We help each other. And in the end that’s what we really embrace, that spirit of being an isolated town and nobody’s come to help, but you see how we’re all on the street? That is the light that illuminates this story.”
