Neighbors on the street Freedom of Sedavi (Valencia) feel abandoned. They’ve been draining the water from the garages for five days. “We haven’t seen a uniform here,” one woman admits to me. In fact, the first ones they see are local police officers from Montcada in Reixac, Santa Susanna, Palafolls And Sant Iscle. Four Catalan municipalities that have organized a joint expedition to meet all the needs.
To this were added moss And FAD (forest defense associations). THE moss They go there at their own risk. And without uniform. The Generalitat did not authorize the sending of a contingent. The versions are contradictory: one, that he did not want. Another, that the Generalitat Valenciana did not ask for it. As if the things were there to ask permission.
But the government of Salvador Illa missed a golden opportunity to improve the image of Mossos, It’s not that she’s very big after a well-known character escaped their notice. This would have been good for the body, even if it was a self-esteem injection.
In addition, I see help from Aragon, Galicia, Andalusia and Extremadura. But no vehicle bearing the logo of Generalitat of Catalonia. This surprises me. It’s not that we Catalans don’t have a very good image in the rest of Spain after the messy process.
Those from Montcada even brought heavy equipment. They clean the streets. There is mountains of rubble. And destroyed cars. The vehicles are stacked three by three in open fields outside the center.
So much recycling at home and here it’s impossible to separate anything. Household appliances, teddy bears, destroyed furniture, mattresses and box springs are mixed in the piles of garbage. The shovel can only stack them in one corner. Or put them in the bed of a truck when it arrives. He will take them to a place – a playground, a parking lot, an open field outside the center – where they will be crowded together again until further notice.
“Come on, come on,” says a woman who almost grabs my arm. I just interviewed her and the first thing she said to me was that “we are abandoned”. “Thank you to the volunteers,” he adds. He came to help his sister who lost her house, her business and her two cars. “He lost absolutely everything,” he insists. Distribute the blame. “The central government, without comment because it is a…” “He came to take the requested photo,” he continues.
He takes me to talk to his brother-in-law, but the man is so excited he doesn’t want to. Instead, her husband explains to me the origins of the disaster. “The problem has been with the Poyo ravine for many years, why don’t they solve it?” he asks.
I even ask him if he is an agronomist. “No, no, what’s the matter,” he clarifies. He’s a butcher. The business also went to shit. Instead. The water took him away. “If Franco had not hijacked the Turia, Valencia would go to hell,” he adds. And I swear he doesn’t look like a Falangist or a fascist. Just a burned citizen. But with so much water, the word “burned” doesn’t fit into the picture either.
Then I walk around Sedaví. I meet young people from Teruel, women from Alicante, forest firefighters. “It’s worse than a war,” he confesses. The next day, in Catarroja, things were worse. Much worse. The aforementioned ravine passes through here. Separate this town from Masanasa. Then come Benetúser, Paiporta. Zero point. The new Turia canal separates the most affected area south of Valencia from the rest.
In Catarroja they have been cleaning the mud for seven days, although now the presence of Army. I even saw the marines sent from Cadiz. “In Masanasa, there are a lot of people who find themselves homeless, elderly people,” a neighbor warns me. Because in fact, many houses are on the ground floor. I saw portals where the water had left a mark two meters above the ground.
The human and emotional impact is brutal. But the economic impact remains to be assessed. I don’t know if the Insurance Compensation Consortium has the funds to scrap that many cars. The figures vary: from 100,000 to 400,000 vehicles.
I don’t even know if the state has the funds for such a disaster. After all, external debt is more than 1.6 billionaffecting 110% of GDP. A few 32,000 euros per capita.
And besides, I didn’t see a European Union flag either. Von der Leyen loves traveling so much that it might be a good idea for him to take a trip to Valencia. Or else the Eurosceptics will come out like mushrooms.
