The shiver took hold of the body of Romain at 75when a huge two meter high wavelike the tip of a tsunami, He entered the ground floor of his house in the Valencian city of Paiporta this Tuesday, in the midst of the scourge of DANA. Like a spring, Román headed towards the second floor of his house. And this reaction saved his life. Only 48 hours later, Román sits with tears in his eyes, contemplating the apocalyptic landscape left by this DANA. In this landscape, the neighbors with whom he spoke daily are no longer there. The storm took them away. “I saw eight dead people taken from here next door“, he laments.
That of Paiporta It is the image of a field after the battle. Ground floors destroyed, businesses devastated and vandalized, people leaving a desolate landscape with a bag, like those in greatunder the arm. They kept all their remaining possessions there.
Román contemplates this frenetic coming and going of people who have to travel several kilometers to obtain two basic foods: bread and water. And they turn to the Military Emergency Unit (UME) truck to guarantee their daily subsistence.
Román sits at the door of his house on one of the few chairs left intact. “His family is removing the furniture that contains his entire life story and that he will never be able to use again.”DANA caught me suddenly“, he admits. “I was here,” he said, gesturing with his left hand inside the ground floor of his two-story house. “When the water came” into the house, “I ran,” he said.
This endless and cursed wave carried away what it found: “I lost everything. All!“, exclaims Román, who views his future with great skepticism. “Whoever can will go up to the first floor. And whoever doesn’t, look, stay there,” he said, remembering: “In the 75 years I’ve lived in this city, I’ve never seen anything like this. I had never seen water coming out of the bridge. In my life.
In fact, DANA killed eight people on the sidewalk opposite where Román is sitting: “There, eight” people died, he explains, pointing to the spot. “And here nearby”, in a shop run by Chinese, “an 18 year old girl. I saw this girl every day. And I also knew those in front of me, of course.
Román admits that he now feels “a lot of helplessness. A lot. “No one can imagine what it’s like: two meters of water in the street, and in my house this water was up to two and a half meters high.”
After DANA, Román is “very grateful” for the collaboration and help he was given: “I’m 75 years old and I can’t move.. “I really appreciate the help you are giving me.”
