A flood survivor’s story

We have friends in Picanya. We saw yesterday them for the first time since the flood. I sat with ‘M,’ whose house is located on the Rambla del Poyo, the normally empty gully that serves as drainage for the hills to the west. The Rambla is about 75 meters wide by about 15 meters deep and looks quite capable of holding a substantial amount of flood water as it almost always dry except for a little trickle in the center.

On the day of the flood, October 29, her daughter ‘D’ called to say she was coming by to get her son as it was starting to hail. She was in a nearby town where she had driven with her daughter, and did not want to be out in the weather. She got to her mother’s house, retrieved the son and went home, just in time. It was not raining in Picanya.

M was reading when she heard a whooshing sound. She thought it had started to rain. Then whooshing again. She arose to look out the front window. Horror and fright gripped her. A vast and high speed wall of water was flashing by, rising to within a meter or a meter and a half of her balcony on the main floor, about 3 meters above the street. M looked down the stairs. The water rose to the seventh step as she watched. She knew that whatever was on the ground floor would be ruined or at least mud soaked if it was still there.

Her house has three levels, ground, main and second. She climbed the stairs to the top. Relatives started to call to find out how she was: alone, still safe and dry, but trembling. In the meantime her son S was about a kilometer away at the metro station, waist deep in water. He made it out safely.

The roar of the waters subsided. When able, she descended the stairs to street level. Her large and beautiful curved top wooden door was on the floor, battered and swollen. She would not be able to use it, and a replacement would cost up to €6000, as it is hand made from high quality lumber. There are many such doors in this town. Her car had been ripped out of the garage along with the door that had been closed when the raging waters slammed it. It was down the street. The back of her house was littered with tall cane stalks, a tire and assorted stuff. Clothing and other items she and relatives stored on the ground floor were ruined, although D could not bear to part with a few things filled with memories.

A little more than a month later, after two weeks in her son’s girlfriend’s house, M is back home. The water and electricity are back. She is still boiling the water although she says the authorities say it is safe to drink. The car, a nice BMW perhaps five years old with low mileage, is a total loss. The metal gate entrance gate is still intact and working so she is safe from intruders, although when she was gone L, D’s husband, stayed there some nights while her son stayed others.

D lives close by in a 5 story apartment building, occupying a top floor flat, safe from the flood waters’ immediate effects. The apartments on the first level were flooded. One of the occupants with a child stayed with D until they were able to get to an apartment in Valencia city. There was no water as the main pump was damaged. Soldiers and fireman came to pump the water out of the basement garage. They lost whatever was stored there- typically there are storage units, called trasteros, in these garages. The elevator’s door was broken and its electrics ruined.

D is a psychologist. She owns and directs a residence for people with mental health challenges in a nearby town. She was not able to get to work. While her husband tried to save their car by removing it from the underground garage before the flood waters rose too high, at street level it was still damaged beyond repair. She rented a rental car from the train station in Valencia – how she got there I do not know – so she can now get to work. There were enough employees who lived close to the facility or who stayed in it to allow it to keep functioning. That town was also flooded but the facility remained safe enough to avoid evacuating residents. Her brother also works in the same field but in a different facility. His car is a total loss. He was able to borrow a car for a while but now is trying to find another so he can get to work.

The metro to Picanya still is out of service. Cars still sit on the tracks there.

Soldiers stayed in the day care center while working in the town. The center has now reopened. The elementary school reopened as well.

We met them yesterday at a shopping center near us. They have lost all their holiday decorations as well as clothing and other items so they drove here. While there is an over-abundance of donated items in the town from caring and generous contributors from all over, and World Central Kitchen has been fabulous, coming every day for weeks, there are still many things they need that they can not get locally.

M seems much exhausted by the ordeal. She can not summon the will to do her normal holiday meal where for years she hosted relatives. They are doing the holiday meals, and she will not have to lift a finger.

Photos and videos by M, reproduced with permission