“There is no water in the garage. “We’re going down to get the cars.” These were the last words spoken by one of the seven residents of the building on Calle Mariano Brull, in the Valencian district of The Tower before entering what would become a death trap in the form of a downpour of the worst cold drop of the century.
It was eight thirty-six Tuesday afternoon. This is the last time that the marriage formed by Gaby And Dana They logged into their Wathsapp, according to what a friend told ABC. The couple went down to the garage with their daughter Alex and the neighbor who called his father. There they met four others. They all died before any of them had time to get into their vehicle.
A jet of water that reached a height of two meters swept away the garage door and cost the lives of eight people. At Gabi, Dana and Álex’s house, the lights were left on and the table was ready for dinner. “The only thing missing was the keys and cell phones,” some of his relatives in Valencia told the newspaper.
The couple, two people “good friends and workers”had arrived in the capital of Turia more than twenty-two years ago from Romania. His friends were his family. And seeing that that fateful Tuesday afternoon they had stopped responding to messages and phone calls in the middle of a storm, one of them showed up at the building on Maestro Brull Street. He had to put on rubber boots and walk parallel to the railway tracks. He arrives and discovers a Dantesque scene of “cars piled up” on the same sidewalk of the property. The water mark on the facade reached two meters. There were already firefighters and police officers. And he convinced one of them to go up to the first floor where the family lived. Then they noticed that there was no one there. Just a table set and a few lamps lit.
Then began an anguish which had an outcome this Thursday which, although unexpected, was truly cruel. All the friends and family knew they were inside since Tuesday night, but they couldn’t get in. The dream of Gabi, Dana and Alex, who bought the house on the outskirts of Valencia three years ago thanks to the savings made through their efforts, was interrupted in this garage.
Four other neighbors died with the family. One of them, Rubenwas a member of the local Valencia police. A vocation that he had inherited from Julio, his father, who the mayor of the city, Maria José Cataláconveyed the condolences of the municipal council.