Of all the political officials who are immersed in the catastrophe of the DANAThe mayors of the most affected villages are the ones who are suffering the most because of their proximity to the horror. Their testimonies describe what can be described as a real hell.
The mayor of Paiporta, Maribel Albalat, has lamented the “desperate” situation in the municipality, one of the most affected in the province. Four days after the catastrophic flood, she narrates that there are areas that still cannot be accessed: “It is impossible because there are bodies, there are vehicles with bodies, and they have to lift them. Everything is very difficult.
The first mayor paiportina thanked the greater number of emergency services personnel working in the town, but specifies that “are not enough” for the “difficult” situation in which the municipality is. “Those who come will be very well received”, he stresses.
Albalat specifies that the worst scenario is the case of the central area of Paiporta, where so far they have not been able to enter. with machinery to cleanas it was the area that received the most water avalanche. Thus, they have only been able to access the area on foot to attend to the citizens.
The first mayor said that they are still in recovery work of the fatalities, that more than 70 people in Paiporta and regrets that “more are expected”, as they are “trying to access the garages”.
After the recovery of the bodies of the deceased, which the Military Emergency Unit (UME) is in charge of, the vehicles and different belongings in the streets will be removed, something that they are doing, but “not in all neighborhoods”.
“We need them to finish the rescue and debris removal work so that we can have access to all the roads and begin to normalize” the supply of food, he explains. In this regard, Albalat is grateful for the many contributions of solidarity, although he comments on the difficulty of coordinating with the “deficient communications”. in the municipality, which he hopes will be solved with the antenna that is being installed.
As for other supplies, the mayor celebrated the fact that they now have drinking water service in the whole town, although “with little power” for the moment, but it is already reaching all homes. Electricity, meanwhile, is available in half of the municipality and they are working to restore it to the entire locality.
Albalat reports that Tuesday’s floods have affected the whole of Paiporta, a municipality of 29,000 inhabitants, since “the ravine crosses and splits the town in two and it overflowed almost three meters”, so the water reached all the first floors and garages. “We have no commerce, local commerce has disappeared, everything is broken or looted,” he laments.
Therefore, in the absence of establishments such as supermarkets or pharmacies, the consistory has located food distribution points in Plaza Xúquer, in the Auditorium and in the CEIP Jaume I, as well as. a 24-hour health center for chronic and emergency care. “We are recovering, but we are going day by day and at minimums,” he says.
The flood also took with it a footbridge in the villagebut the mayor indicates that the bridges are in good condition and can be used, after being checked by technical personnel.
Chiva
For her part, the mayor of Chiva, Amparo Fort, has expressed her gratitude to all the institutions, emergency services and volunteers who are helping in the cleaning and supply tasks in the town, which has seven deaths after the passage of the DANA, and has pointed out that the situation is of a very serious nature. “a roller coaster”.
“You see sadness, which logically we have run out of peopleright? But on the other hand, you see with joy the response we are getting from everyone. So, this is the atmosphere I see, that people, despite everything, have not sunk,” she said, excited, in statements to the media provided by the consistory.
Fort said he was surprised by the young people “brutally, because they are turning from our population and the surrounding towns. They are not hesitating at any time. The truth is that because they are hard jobs, they are difficult jobs and there are real, real human tides of volunteers, especially young people, from the stores here in Chiva, those who have started to be able to work and in the conditions they are doing it”.
Thus, he praised “how they are supplying us with everything they can, gas stations, supermarkets, bakeries…. It is that I don’t want to leave anyone behindbut of course the response to help has been brutal, brutal.
Asked about how to face the next week, she said that now the main objective is to find the people who are still missing. “Now they are still confirming to me if people are coming out alive from a garage, which we had not located. So, at this moment our objective is thatto locate as many people as we can.“, he said.
Fort has explained that the emergency services have already managed to open a way to reach urbanizations and scattered and communicate with them to, somehow, to be able to them “send provisions, food, health services, heavy machinery and so on to start cleaning up there as well.” Therefore, “we are expanding the part of the term that until now will not be totally inaccessible”.
In addition, the municipality has recovered “at times” electricity and water, which also allows to have the telephone; and the service stations have been able to start up in order to supply all the vehicles, both for shovels, tractors and Civil Guard and Local Police services.
The first mayor, who has asked that volunteers stop arriving because it is difficult to manage the number, has stated that they still need water because “because although in urbanizations and others have, we can not guarantee that it can be for human consumption”.
And he stressed that there is still an urbanization totally in the dark and that there was a breakdown in the Pozo de la Solana, which still continues, because although the emergency services arrived there, the generators in operation were burned last night and again have no water. “I would like Iberdrola, please, solve the breakdown we have there at the electrical level so that the issue of water we can ensure,” he said and expressed his gratitude to all the institutions that are collaborating to help the municipality.
Aldaia
The mayor of Aldaia, Guillermo Luján, has demanded “urgent” help for a town in which the floods of last Tuesday have affected “99% of the municipality”. “There has not been a trade, there has not been a house that has been spared and there are thousands of cars to collect,” he argues, while insisting that “the need is urgent.”
The first mayor aldaiense sees with “desolation and incomprehension” that Aldaia is classified as a low affectation zone, when the situation is “catastrophic”, so it is urgent to send material and effective means.
“There are houses that are trapped because they have cars in front of themHe adds that the ground and second floors have been badly affected by the floods, after the water rose almost two meters.
According to official figures, there are six fatalities from the DANA in Aldaia, although they believe that the number may be higher, since the parking lot of the Bonaire shopping centerthe largest in Valencia”, is being dewatered, something that will take 36 hours, and “it has not yet been possible to recover cars”.
The mayor is grateful for the mobilization of citizens, which has allowed to change the picture of the town with the removal of mud, but he specifies that “it is still a car cemetery and a situation that looks like war”. In this regard, he reiterates that “not a single aid has arrived from the institutions”; while he values the support and the firefighters sent by the City Council of Valladolid.
As for supplies, he points out that “a large part” of the municipality has no water; electricity has not recovered either and the internet connection is also down, not even to the local operations center.
Luján explains that, at present, the locality needs machinery to drain the garages and for the removal of household goods and vehicles; while donations of food and clothing are not needed for the time being.