A terrified Valencia flood victim has revealed the scale of the devastation after heavy floodwaters engulfed her home in a matter of minutes.
Alba Paredes Borja is from the Spanish town of Alfafar, one of the areas hardest hit by the deadly storm, where local authorities are calling for urgent help in receiving food, water and medical supplies.
“I’m terrified. Everything looks apocalyptic,” she told The Independent. The floods – known as the “cold drop” or DANA phenomena – have claimed 158 lives, including at least three people in the municipality, leaving the city in ruins and cut off from all communication.
When the heavy rain started on Tuesday night, the 20-year-old, who lives with her pet cat, recalls how she narrowly escaped when muddy water started gushing into her house, wreaking havoc.
Now staying with a friend, Alba explained how she was alone when the disaster struck. “I only managed to escape with a T-shirt, some pants and my cat. I left barefoot, without anything else,” she said.
In less than 10 minutes, her home was completely flooded, with the waters reaching two metres high. “By the time they issued a warning that homes were flooding, mine was already underwater. Nothing was saved.
“The situation was overwhelming; I felt lost and scared watching my home fill with water,” she added.
Her furniture was shattered, appliances broken, and the walls drenched. “There’s nothing left – just mud,” Alba said.
Residents in her neighbourhood woke up to a grim scene, with overturned cars making it almost impossible to walk around.
“Food is scarce since all the supermarkets have been looted. You can’t enter or leave the area because everything is blocked. While communications have been restored today, we were cut off for three days.
“There are no rescues; it’s just us. We’re a group of people trying to clear the mud from our homes, but there’s not much help available,” Alba explained.
“I’m in shock. I’ve lost my home and have nothing left. Everyone around me has suffered the same fate.”
Those who managed to escape the floods sought refuge at the homes of relatives and neighbours. But others have been forced to sleep in doorways and abandoned buildings.
Alba said: “This situation is suffocating. People are fighting for food and just trying to survive. It’s alarming and terrifying. Everything looks apocalyptic. Everything is destroyed.
“Those who managed to save their cars before the floods hit have been able to go elsewhere to buy food. But those without cars are struggling to eat, surviving on whatever little they could salvage.”
As emergency services continue their frantic rescue efforts, the official number of people killed by flash floods in Spain has risen to 158.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has urged residents to stay at home, warning the devastation is “not finished” and declaring Valencia a “disaster zone” amid warnings of more extreme weather to come.
