Spain clings to shreds of hope in times of disaster

Flooding and torrential rain returned to the Valencia region on Wednesday night, but this time they were ready for it and areas hit two weeks ago were spared further disaster.

By the end of October, more than 220 people had died in this east coast region, with the town of Paiporta the hardest hit, with 60 deaths.

Amidst the despair, locals are understandably looking for a silver lining; for example, the remarkable story of what happened at the Whitby English language school.

While the entire road was under water, the vice principal of the university, Daniel Burguet, repeatedly hit the door with his newly purchased chair leg.

Filmed from the 3rd floor balcony across the street, Daniel can be seen repeatedly hitting the glass.

She is stuck at school with her 11-year-old daughter Noa and her three younger children and cannot go upstairs.

Finally, Danny breaks down the door of the building next door and pulls the children, one by one, to safety.

“I felt so relieved when I walked through the door. We were finally safe,” says Daniel, as he continues to renovate the school.

It is perhaps understandable that in the search for solace, stories of courage are shamelessly celebrated when found.

Local media hailed Danny as “Pairporta’s Hero”.

“There are a lot of people doing the same thing that day; a lot of ‘heroes’ like me, if you want to call us that,” he says.

“I feel good about this. I feel the love of the people here. “I was the one who was filmed, but there were many other heroes.”

Rebuilding Spain’s shattered and traumatized communities will require months of heroic effort.

The threat has not gone away.

Two weeks after the worst floods to hit a single European country this century, Paiporta is still teeming with firefighters, police officers, the Red Cross and an army of daily volunteers.

But most residents feel that unofficial community-generated efforts are not being met by authorities at either the regional or national level.

“It was a tsunami,” says Juan José Montane.

He shows me video from his home as floating cars are thrown into the walls below him.

“It’s only because of God that I survived,” he exclaims, making the sign of the cross three times in anger.

Divine intervention aside, it is the lack of intervention from Valencia and the central government that infuriates him.

“It’s a shame, we feel abandoned,” says Juan José.

“For four days we did not see the army coming to help. We need more troops here.”

Her sister Lourdes fears how the town will be rebuilt with so much loss and a severe lack of infrastructure.

“We feel like we are imprisoned here. “There are no roads, the situation is terrible,” he explains.

“We lost everything in this town, everything.”

Although the vast majority of houses were still standing, the hardest-hit streets suffered from a lack of electricity, heat and potable water.

In Paiporta, piles of smashed cars formed at intersections and other places out of traffic.

It is estimated that up to 100,000 cars were destroyed during the flood.

Some abandoned vehicles here that appear almost intact except for a dent in the hood or a flat tire are not spared either.

Instead, they are caught by giant claw cranes that smash windshields and lift vehicles.

The loss of property in this region was enormous. The loss of life is devastating.

And the trauma is not over.

The mayor has urged people to stay at home as locals wait for the latest flood warning to ease.

Additional reporting by Bruno Boelpaep and Juan A. Dominguez