“You cannot leave us forgotten”

The Huerta Sur region has been crying for barely a month, on October 29, when the worst DANA of the century It became a flood that destroyed everything in its path. Vehicles, businesses and especially people: 133 men and 89 women They left with the water, according to the latest official count from the Data Integration Center. Since then, life in this district of Area The Metropolitana de Valencia is not life, but something else. Because, say its inhabitants, desire cannot be called life.

“We’re trying to get back to routine, of course, but it’s impossible. You keep fixing the house damage, filling out insurance paperwork and waiting in line for hours to get on a bus,” explains María Amor from the door of her house. house, in Paiporta. Here she lives with her husband, Manuel, who A day after the disaster he also attended EL ESPAÑOL. They now say they have lost two vehicles, the family possessions and mementos they kept in their garage and, in his case, also his mother. “I couldn’t say goodbye to him,” he said, just before everything fell silent.

Paiporta, which was precisely where the flood hit hardestwas forced to literally dig herself out of the mud. There was not a street or business that was not invaded, as the neighbors described it at the time, “a giant brown wave”. 31 days later, the Armed Forces They are ensuring that most streets remain clean and passable, humanitarian aid points have been organized throughout the city, businesses are starting to reopen and NGOs continue to offer free hot meals.

But the water level mark on the walls and the color of the sidewalks continue to illustrate the horror of this October afternoon. As if there was a struggle between the past, the present and the future, Javier and Pablo work in a hairdressing salon a few meters from the town hall of Paiporta. “He caught us here. We almost didn’t say anything, we were lucky the glass door gave way and we escaped thanks to a neighbor,” said one of the barbers while serving a man.

All the material inside the premises it’s donationsthey say, because nothing has been saved. It is one of the few companies that is already operating normally, 37 in all, according to town hall sources. Even though the smell of humidity, which does not disappear despite the three heaters in operation, continues to be the protagonist of haircuts, just as there is only one topic of conversation among customers: what which once was and will be no more.

Something similar happened to Francisco Manzano, who, after the pandemic, fulfilled his dream of opening what until recently was a very popular sushi restaurant in Paiporta: “I was at home with my two young children and when they told me that the Barranco del Poyo had overflowed, I quickly went to get the van out of the garage. For a few minutes he didn’t catch up with us, because then he might be able to save one of us, but it was impossible for both of us.“, he says from inside his restaurant, now empty, under renovation and half destroyed.

He is one of the many residents of the neighborhood who denounce the lack of institutional help, from an economic point of view, but also from a local point of view. “I counted 33,000 euros in losses. It’s a lot. But there are also companies taking advantage of the situation. They want to charge me 30% more It’s been a week since I replaced the blinds which I have to put up because I can’t leave them open”, he concludes. He is not the only one to denounce additional costs. The same day, four other hoteliers declared the same thing.

Beyond Paiporta, the metamorphosis begins to gradually illuminate the Huerta Sur. La Torre, Sedaví, Benetúser and Alfafar They try to dress normally after an exhaustive cleaning, in which they collaborated thousands of volunteers from all over Spain. Neighbors, however, insist they fear being forgotten. “The road is still long. What to do with everything we have lost? And the garages which still have water, the houses which have collapsed, emphasizes José, armed with a flashlight and waterproof boots after his departure?” the parking lot of your building.

Between the desolation and the hope There is something and that is precisely what the Valencians feel. Street cleaning in much of the region is colliding head-on, exploding with a school in Massanassa which, as if time had not passed, remains with mutilated walls, empty classrooms and playgrounds without swings. This is the CEIP Lluís Vives, the center where a few days ago an operator died while carrying out cleaning tasks. It will remain closed due to the risk of collapse.

It’s just a few meters from this place where Maria Asunción He wields a broom and tries to clean a sidewalk in Alfafar. Three tears later, she explains her story to HE SPANISH, which is nothing more than that of one more person Montroy that “he has lost everything” and “he doesn’t know what to do with the rest of his days.” The positive side of the situation, he says, is that when the river rose 12 meters She wasn’t at home. If he had, his voice would have been silenced forever. But it’s not like that.

Ask-. How did you feel the first time you were able to go back to Montoy and see what happened?

Answer-. I thought I was going to die. I have been fighting for this house for 47 years. A mason built four walls. I built the rest with these hands. I made my walls. I made my walls. I did my cooking. I did everything. The memories of my father, my mother, my sister were there. Photos, even my sister’s crane, who was quadriplegic, even my sister’s crane was there. Everything is lost. Not a photo of my parents, not a memory. Nothing at all.

As night falls, the cleaning units, made up mainly of military and firefighters from across Spain, continue the cleanup. In Catarroja And Alba Many basements of buildings continue to be flooded. And many neighbors were forced to move to the city of Valencia to continue living, given the impossibility of rebuilding their homes and using public transport, reinforcements of which continue to try to satisfy the high demand.

The majority of people report a lack of financial support, despite the aid announced. “Only a few neighbors collected 6,000 euros. What is 6,000 euros when you have lost everything?”mentions Camilo, a resident of Catarroja. “We need resources and men,” he said. And while the adults talk about money, a group of children play with bicycles, equipped with colorful surgical masks, among dozens of useless cars stacked like reserves in the mud.