“There were people who went to the gym and couldn’t leave the parking lot”

“The alarms rang all night in Alzira.” In this municipality of the Valencian Community, the last hours will be difficult to forget for Raquel, a resident of the municipality affected by the floods caused by DANA. “I estimate the water was up to my waist,” he told ABC.

Capital of the Ribera Alta region, this municipality of 46,000 inhabitants usually suffers from flooding due to strong storms, but the rains which hit the Valencian province surprised many residents stranded for hours.

“At least I have a place to spend the night, but there were people who went to the gym and couldn’t leave the parking lot,” Raquel notes with anguish. These people spent the night in their car without being able to receive help. “We couldn’t even give them water or blankets or anything because we couldn’t get through.”

One of the first reports indicated more than 50 deaths in the province of Valencia alone. In the town of Alzira, residents received a message on their cell phones from Civil Protection in which citizens are asked to avoid traveling by road and to pay attention to warnings from official sources.