By Adam Parsons, Europe correspondent
We have just left the town of Aldaia, west of Valencia. It’s a big place, not that far from the airport, and it has been brought to its knees.
What we found was destruction on a grand, devastating scale. People were throwing possessions out into the street, creating a growing wall of random objects – wardrobes, toys, televisions, clothes and even dishwashers. All piled up, covered in mud.
On the streets, there are hundreds – probably thousands – of people who have come out to help. They are using everything possible to get rid of the water, using brooms, shovels, sticks and even large pieces of wood, all to try to funnel the water into drains.
Others are gathering mud into buckets, boxes and any container they can find. They then carry it to the Turia river that runs through the heart of the town.
The river is foul now, cluttered with debris but also stained with oil, fuel, and who knows what else. So many cars were tossed around by this flood and they have dropped their fluids all over the town. At one corner, there is the familiar smell of diesel bubbling through the mud.
It is hellish, and yet there is worse. We see an underpass, cutting beneath the road, and we walk carefully through the slippy, claggy mud to see it.
It is full of more debris, and there is oil swirling in the water, which is slowly being pumped out.
As the water recedes, so cars are being revealed. We don’t know if there are people within them, but all the evidence, and all the conversations, we have had point to one conclusion – either these people abandoned their cars before the water hit, or they will have died.
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Publish date : 2024-11-01 06:51:00
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The post Spain floods latest: Number of people killed rises to at least 205; former Valencia footballer among the dead | World News first appeared on Love Europe.
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Author : love-europe
Publish date : 2024-11-01 17:23:12
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