By Leah Pattem in collaboration with Valencia-based volunteers
As rescue and recovery operations in Valencia’s flood-hit towns and barrios are underway, Madrid residents are donating food, hygiene products and clothes to municipal collection points run mostly by volunteers.
“What we need is donations because people have lost everything. You go inside a house, and everything is ruined,” Lara told me from Sedaví earlier today.
Concerns are growing for some 7,000 local volunteers too, who’ve been complaining of feeling unwell. “I have a bad headache and not feeling great, but it might just be exhaustion,” explains Shauna. “I feel things in my stomach and start to worry, but I’m fine,” says Lara. “On the first day, we didn’t really think about safety, but now we’re wearing masks, gloves and bags on our feet.”
Floodwater is often contaminated with sewage and chemicals, and sharp objects can also hide in the muddy water. The use of engines and generators can also cause carbon dioxide poisoning. In Chiva, 19 people were poisoned by inhaling gases from a water pump. They’re now in a stable condition.
The worst-affected towns and suburbs of Valencia are immediately south of its river, the River Turía. At least 77,000 homes and 190,000 people are affected. Lara tells me volunteers are using footbridges to travel to affected areas but “fewer volunteers are able to reach there because it’s too far by foot.” The local authorities are bussing volunteers from the city to the towns, but many areas still lack adequate support.
On Tuesday night, a storm dropped a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours, causing channels to overflow. Four days later, 10,000 first responders have arrived, however, anger towards the local and national government is growing as warnings and responses have been sluggish and have cost people their lives.
In a visit to Paiporta this morning by the King and Queen of Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Regional President Carlos Mazón, far-right locals threw mud and shouted, “We are already dead!” and “Leave!”.
Hope is slim for some 1,900 still missing. As farmers use their tractors to tow cars from underground tunnels and car parks, the death toll of 211 is expected to rise.
Madrid collection points for donations
Madrid City Council has published the following list of locations for donations destined for Valencia’s flood-hit areas, open from 9am to 9pm every day this week:
- Retiro: C\ Montalbán, 1 (Ayuntamiento de Madrid)
- Centro: Plaza de la Cebada, 13
- Chamberí: C\ Santa Engracia, 116
- Tetuán: C\ Francisco Balseiro, 4
- Chamartín: Av\ Alfonso XIII, 128 – José Mª Soler
- Salamanca: C\ Jorge Juan, 48
- Retiro: C\ Luis Peidro, 8 c/v Cerro Negro
- Arganzuela: C\ Delicias 44
- Fuencarral: C\ Isla de Arosa, 22
- Moncloa-Aravaca: Crta. Húmera, 40
- Latina: Base SELUR C\ Ángel Sanz Briz
- Hortaleza: C\ Tomás Redondo, 8
- Barajas: C\ Alhaurín, 7
- Ciudad Lineal: Avda trece Rosas s/n junto explanada mercadillo Ciudad Lineal
- San Blas: C\ Aquitania, 36
- Vicálvaro: Abad Juan Catalán esquina con carretera de Vicálvaro a estación de O’Donnell
- Moratalaz: C\ Arroyo Belincoso, 7
- Puente de Vallecas: C\ Josefa Díaz, 13
- Villa de Vallecas: C\ Manuel Vélez, 7
- Carabanchel: C\ Treseta, 39
- Usera: C\ Antonio López, 197
- Villaverde: C\ Rocafort, 5
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