Flooded houses, impassable neighborhoods, paralyzed lives. The consequences of the great storm DANA, which devastated dozens of municipalities in Toledo, left countless families homeless and also cost three days. But what is happening a year after this great tragedy? The recovery has been slow, much longer than those affected expected.
The images of the great storm that isolated the town of Chozas de Canales are still etched in the memory of Nuria Robledo, the town’s mayor. “I still find boxes of mud in my house,” he says in conversation with this medium. “There was a time when I couldn’t even get back to it,” he recalls.
The split road, an image that went viral as a symbol of the disaster, was fully reopened less than two months ago. The small town of Toledo was virtually completely cut off during the worst of the storm, and an old road had to be opened up to allow people to get in and out of the city.
But Robledo emphasizes that what emerged in the midst of the tragedy was solidarity. “We were cut off from both roads. I saw how the walls were falling. There was a power outage, internet, everything,” he emphasizes. But after the helplessness and despair, it was time to rebuild everything.
“People came out, it was a time to show that we were a united people. There was a party to celebrate Hut Pride, and the whole town helped clean houses and raise money. I remember sending out a notice for people to come with brushes to the town square and everyone came out and started sweeping the whole town,” he recalls.
Robledo also points out that she had just taken office as mayor. “Vin Sergio Gutiérrez [secretario de Organización del PSOE Castilla-La Mancha] and he said to me: you came to fix the city and you’re going to have to rebuild it. Rebuild it, practically everything: the football field, the swimming pool, the library, “everything was flooded.” “It’s about making decisions. There will be some who want it or not, but that’s the way it is.”
Thousands of incidents
The figures obtained after the storm are very significant. Three weeks later, the Spanish government estimated that the damage reached 300 million euros throughout the region, most of it in the province of Toledo and also in Cuenca. Institutions such as the Provincial Council of Toledo launched extraordinary emergency measures to alleviate the main problems faced by the villages that were still cleaning the mud from their homes.
Thousands of incidents were registered. “Since September 2, we have activated the Adverse Weather Phenomena Plan, Meteocam, for 20 days,” recalls Ana María Sánchez, head of the 112 service. In 20 days, they responded to 36,000 calls. “Many cities full of mud, many flooded areas. “We faced this for 20 days,” he recalls.
In total, he points out, emergency services responded to 2,993 incidents. “We were prepared, but until the incidents start happening, we can’t measure the magnitude of what happened,” explains the professional. “When the streams start to overflow, flooding the roads, we know that the calls will be for material damage, since the houses are flooded with water. And then the delicate incidents begin, due to personal injuries.”
“The equipment has a solution, but not the personnel,” reflects Sánchez. “You have to be able to distinguish, among all the whirlwind of calls, where the mortal risk really is,” he emphasizes.
We must be able to distinguish where the risk to life lies
Ana Maria Sanchez
— Emergency Service 112 Room Manager
The operators are the ones who have the fundamental role in this matter. “The best possible screening, to be able to distinguish where the vital risk is,” he reflects. The service creates a kind of “map” to try to understand what is happening, where it is happening and see what resources will be needed. “If we have dry streams or riverbeds, we know that if the water arrives in an hour, we can have a flooded city,” explains Ana María Sánchez.
In these types of situations, he stresses, prevention is essential, we must anticipate what can happen and act as quickly as possible. “Our emergency service is an integrated service. Absolutely everything is coordinated from 112. If a person is stuck on a road, we notify the fire brigade, the highways, the Civil Guard or SESCAM. “That’s our advantage,” he stresses.
And even if a tragedy has occurred, it is also possible to learn. “What we have to be prepared for is to be able to provide good coverage and good service to the citizen. 36,000 calls were received, but it could have been 50,000,” he concludes.
Without help, one year later
Javier González is the owner of Producciones Múltiple, one of the companies affected by the floods that hit the industrial area of Toledo. “It was like starting from scratch,” he explains. First there were friends who had to go and help with the mud and then make decisions to keep a company that had lost everything going. “Everything was done by throwing our noses at it,” he says.
“Virtually” none of the many requested aids have yet arrived, with great difficulty because even the documents were destroyed by the heavy rains. “Everything was based on loans to continue working at the same pace as before,” he emphasizes. His company lost its warehouse, its offices, everything, even its computer servers. “But we still don’t know how much we will receive from the Consortium [de Seguros] to be able to recover the investments we had to make,” he describes.
“We are starting from scratch, but not from the same zero, because we already had customers, staff and a dynamic and a trajectory,” he emphasizes.
Slow return to normal
Many cities and neighborhoods have not managed to return to normal. The spokesperson for the Provincial Council of Toledo, Soledad de Frutos, recalls that it was a “shocking” situation, but that it was “clear” that the institution “had to put itself at the service of the inhabitants of the province” from the first minute. “To help, a Crisis Cabinet was also created, for the first time in the history of the Provincial Council of Toledo, where all the deputies and, above all, the technicians of the provincial institution were present, to quickly move our brigades and cleaning services,” de Frutos emphasizes.
After the first moments of emergency, the Provincial Council “set to work” to provide the necessary financial aid. “We made it clear that the municipalities had to be sure that they would be able to mitigate, as far as possible, the material damage caused to infrastructure and services,” he emphasizes, referring to the envelope of ten million euros. “Something that was not easy at the beginning of the legislature and when the exercise was ending that year,” he emphasizes. The aid was available “in less than three months.” A loan was also granted for the repair of the Chozas de Canales road. This, he explains, is “one of the most important investments” that the Provincial Council has had to face.
“We have managed to be the first administration to take the lead in this situation, because we are aware that when it is necessary, we must be there and not delay our help,” says the MP. However, he acknowledges that “there are still things to do” and “we are still looking forward to it.”
“We will continue to be available to people in whatever way we can help. “It has been 9 months of hard work that has demonstrated our firm and determined commitment to the needs of the people of the province,” he emphasizes.
A new pipe in the Picadas supply system
A significant example of the slow progress is the installation of a new pipeline for the Picadas supply system, whose failure during the DANA left nearly 400,000 people without water between the cities of Toledo and Madrid. The installation is not yet finished and is scheduled to be completed in January 2025. One year and four months later.
In the case of the capital Toledo, Mayor Carlos Velázquez also admitted that there were “consequences”, especially in the case of the urban bus service. Half of the fleet was buried under the mud. But Velázquez emphasizes, in statements to Europa Press, that now we must take into account that these “meteorological events can happen again and can happen again”, which is why the intention is to undertake measures that “will minimize as much as possible the damage caused to the environment” , but being aware that it can happen again.
“We do not forget these images that we were able to experience here,” he noted. “A year ago, we were walking around Toledo at this time and we were looking at the sky with concern, and today, fortunately, the situation is different,” he concluded.
