José lived in Valencia, but had his roots in Cuenca. On the verge of retirement, half of his 64 years had passed in countless miles traveled on the road. with his truck. Last Tuesday he lost track near the Benimodo ravine, while trying to reach a nursery in Alcúdia.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, Civil Guard agents and the businessman who was waiting for him in the Valencian city found his white vehicle in good condition in this area of rural roads. There was no trace of its sole occupant.
At that time, the helicopter of the Valencia Provincial Firefighters Consortium had already rescued several drivers stuck on the roads of the Ribera Alta region. Torrential rains had been falling on this area, flooding houses and streets and overflowing ravines, since early in the morning.
No water entered the truck’s cabin, which kept alive the hope of finding him alive.
Many municipalities had suspended classes to avoid travel due to the active weather alert due to the DANAan orange notice that turned red as the day went on. The disaster was underway and José Hernáiz Montoro, a member of a family of truckers and experienced driverI already saw it coming.
Around nine o’clock in the morning, he had warned by telephone the manager of the nursery where he was going that it was dangerous to continue his journey along the course of the Magro River and he had stopped along the way. He advised him to call 112 for help if he had any problems. After this last communication, no one was able to contact him again.
The activated search system, joined by the firefighters, did not bear fruit. José’s family launched an appeal on social networks and in the media to try to find him, under the hypothesis that he had abandoned the truck to avoid an accident and had taken refuge somewhere to escape the storm. There was hope: no water had entered the cabin.
After five days of anguish, José’s lifeless body was found about 300 meters from the vehicle that was his work tool, on the border of the municipalities of Alcúdia and Guadassuar. His death caused great emotion in San Lorenzo de la Parrilla, the town where he was born, and it remains pending while waiting for good news.
José started a list of those missing due to the storm which is not yet closed
He lived for three decades on the main street of this small Cuenca town of 1,100 inhabitants, before leaving to work in Valencia with his wife and two children. There, where he still had many friends, he returned several times a year, his neighbors told ABC, to whom the family thanked them for their signs of affection. With them, they continued to share vacations in the city.
José, who so many times had to face storms, hail and even icebecame the first person to go missing in a historic storm that Valencians will never forget. Their story is also that of hundreds of fatal victims of a tragedy that no one stopped in time and which cost many lives. Unfortunately, the list started by this good and hardworking man, as those around him remember, is not yet closed.
