A massive rainfall in Spain’s eastern Valencia region Oct. 29 — nearly 20 inches fell in eight hours, more than normally falls in a year — caused catastrophic flash floods that killed over 200 people. Many more are still missing. An impromptu army of thousands of volunteers of all ages, walks of life and different nationalities have converged to join in the cleanup.
They came armed with mops and buckets, pick-axes or shovels, bottles of drinking water or bags of food. They tirelessly shoveled and swept out mud and debris from streets and houses.
“Authorities appear overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster, and survivors are relying on the esprit de corps of volunteers who have rushed in to fill the void,” reported PBS. They are willing to help, “wherever needed,” is a common refrain.
The country’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory hit without any serious warning by authorities. An emergency cellphone alert was finally sent out at 8:12 p.m. But “at about 8 o’clock I was up to my neck in water for an hour and swallowing mud,” Miguel Ángel, who had been trapped in his car, told El Diario. Hundreds more were trapped in homes, cars or factories.
The storm swept away everything in its path, leaving untold numbers still missing and countless lives upended. The floods battered Valencia’s infrastructure, with bridges, roads and rail tracks destroyed and farmland submerged. The region produces about two-thirds of Spain’s citrus crops, including oranges. Much of it is gone.
Covered in mud from toiling in the small town of Chiva, Alicia Montero said, “We work, stop to eat a sandwich they give us, and keep on working.”
“Chiva will take a long time to recover from this,” María Teresa Sánchez said as she cleaned out the bakery that has been in her family for five generations. She hopes to continue, but her 100-year-old oven may not be usable again. “But it is true that we have not felt alone. We are helping each other,” she said. “That is the shining light to this story.”