LondonThe day after the DANA caused the death of more than 220 people in the worst weather catastrophe in the Valencian Country and the State in its entire history, Rafel Sanchis Palop, a resident of a neighborhood in the north-east of London but born in Aldaia (L’Horta Sud) 61 years ago, he called the ARA correspondent in the British capital to let him know that his family had suffered the tragedy in a brutal way and suddenly, and that he was going to Valencia urgently. His brother, Franciso Javier, Xavi, 66 years old, and his sister, María Pilar, Pili, 63, had drowned in the house where they were born and raised, at number 9 of Calle de Sant Vicent, corner with the of San Francisco. They were two of the six fatalities in the town.
Two weeks later, again in London, Rafel recalls the events of those days: especially the hours before, when he warned his relatives to be careful, and the hours after, when it was only possible to bury the dead, clean the property and collect the few memories that had not been swallowed by the water and mud.
“They don’t care”
“In the middle of the morning of October 29, I started to realize that everything could be serious, after seeing a video of Utiel that had been sent to me and others that I saw on the networks. I start to worry a little, but not to the point of phoning my brothers at that moment. But towards noon I saw that it was raining a lot in Xiva, and since I know the territory, because I have lived there for thirty-two years, I know that when it rains a lot all that water goes to Aldaia.
»The rambles are divided into two spaces. The one that goes towards Torrent, the Rambla de Poio, and the Rambla d’Aldaia or Saleta. I keep seeing that it is raining in Xiva and then I decide to call my brothers Francisco Javier and María Pilar. It was 5.18pm London time. I tell them: “It has rained a lot, a lot, a lot in Shiva, be careful!” But they don’t care. I, on the other hand, got nervous, also because I had previously seen how it had rained in Utiel and how the cold drop evolved from the Ribera towards the Plana.
»When I talk to my brothers they tell me they are going to dinner. But – as I say – they were not worried! If they start dinner so early, I think, they have time to go upstairs. They relaxed, maybe? I don’t know Maybe they were surprised by the big storm trying to save something? Why didn’t they go upstairs? The big storm arrived around nine o’clock in the evening; they didn’t imagine it. People said that the first tongue of water was not very strong, but the second one was. What does not explain to me is that if I see the risk of all this from London, why did not the authorities become aware of the magnitude of the approaching catastrophe and did not warn anyone?
»I don’t quite understand how it is that as much as it rained, the administrations didn’t immediately put everyone on alert: mayors, presidents, Civil Protection, central government… It was a lot of water!!! I saw what happened in Greece, what happened in Libya, that a dam burst and passed over an entire city, with more than 11,000 dead, and I was told that it could happen to us any day. And if I think it, why can’t the mayors and the presidents think it? And why can’t they alert people? And the president of the Generalitat, who has the powers?
“I don’t speak to the other brother, Marc, but I wrote to him. I say: “Are you working now, Marc?” “I’m done. I was going in the morning,” he answers. “It’s raining at home, you seem to have a cold,” I answer. “Yes, that sounds like it.” “Take care!” And I sent him the video of Shiva. “If it rains in Xiva, you can get ready in Aldaia,” I finished the conversation.
At six in the afternoon on October 29, the local police in Aldaia said it was safe to take the car to go to Valencia
“The truth is that I was very surprised, because everyone was very calm. “It didn’t rain here, it didn’t rain here; they hadn’t told us anything”, the neighbors repeated to me, days later. And my brother Marc also told me that same evening: “I called the town police at six o’clock [de la tarda] and I asked them if there is any problem with the barranquet, because I want to go and pick up my wife, in Valencia, who works in a department store, to take her home. And they told me there’s no problem!”
»And at eight in the afternoon they were holding a municipal meeting at the City Hall. And the Library of Aldaia, which is next to the ravine, was open. And the people, there. If they don’t leave immediately, there is a catastrophe. Many people were saved in the extremes. Most of the people in Aldaia, everyone I talked to, didn’t get any alerts. The only one, the general one, the one at 8.11 p.m. But [l’alerta] nor did it say, “You must go up to the first floor.” I can’t quite explain it to myself and I can’t quite believe how they can’t know, in the 21st century, how much water is falling and whether it will reach two feet or two meters. And how is it possible that they do not communicate between the mayors of the basin.
A terrible message
»My brother Marc went at half past four in the morning [a la casa familiar] because like what [els dos germans] They didn’t answer the phone I was worried. He went up to the first floor, and did not find them; he went down, where he had looked before, but had not seen them, and at last he saw them. At that time the water had already gone down: Xavi, in the kitchen; la Pili, in the hall.
»It was at 05.49 [GMT, una hora més a Aldaia] on the 30th when I received Marc’s message: “Rafel, Xavi and Pili were missing. When I went there, I found them dead. What a terrible death. I don’t know why they didn’t go upstairs when water started to enter house”. I phoned my wife, the head of staff at work, who is from Benicàssim, and she tells me not to worry: “You have to be with your family!” I bought a one-way flight. I got there at eight in the evening. In Manises, DANA did not affect them at all. A friend who lives in L’Horta Nord came to pick me up, because my relatives had run out of a car. From the airport to my house is ten minutes. Everything was full of mud. Cars piled up, mud, just enter the village. The next day we started cleaning the parents’ house, where my brothers lived.
»After finding them, Marc went to the police. And at seven in the morning [del dia 30] they removed the corpses. An autopsy was performed on them. We received the report more than two weeks later. They certified the time of Xavi’s death, “due to brain anoxia due to submergence“, at 2 a.m. on the 30th; and that of Pili, at 0.00 a.m., also on the 30th, in this case “due to anoxic anoxia due to submersion“: the only thing we got on the day they lifted the bodies were the two glasses they both had on.
»On the first day we collected a lot of mud. Every room had plenty of it. The mud is getting compacted, but there is a lot left in the corners. The furniture had been moved, my mother’s chest of drawers was under the bed. We had a lot of help from people, from the friends of my nieces, who are 17 and 21 years old, all that was not there from the authorities in the first three days. My sister-in-law’s brother came down from Reus with a pressurized water machine. We ended up so tired every day that we fell asleep immediately, from exhaustion. But once you wake up, then it’s very difficult…, it’s very difficult to fall asleep. They sell you images and memories, and flashes of all kinds. Very few photos could be saved.
»There are businesses that do not know if they will open again. Many people say: “I’m already about to retire, now I have to start all over again?” Many people will suffer, not only emotionally, from family members who will not return, but for business. Thousands of cars have been lost, low floors, which the elderly had arranged to sleep below. People will be nervous every time it rains. With climate change and mismanagement they won’t be able to trust anyone; they will not be able to trust that they will be informed correctly. Preparation is required for all of this. And, politically, as it has been so strong, I hope that people will become aware. It is very important to be prepared. Whatever politicians they are, they will get a lot of pressure from the people. We won’t let it happen.
»I am now contacting more families in my town to file a complaint. There are people who don’t want to sign, but there are people who do. I don’t quite understand it… I think there is a lack of activism by some, there, which comes to us from the generation of parents and grandparents. The typical “don’t get involved in politics” thing. I think that this has affected us a lot. “You, dedicate yourself to work and don’t get involved in politics.” Our parents used to tell us this. But I think we have to pursue them and we have to clear responsibilities, because they were completely wrong. I want to put them against the wall, not to get anything out of it, but because I cannot understand that there are no authorities that are not responsible, that are not competent, that do not suffer for their citizens.”
