All the drama of Spain’s flash floods, contained in one street: ‘Deaths could have been avoided’

All the drama of Spain’s flash floods, contained in one street: ‘Deaths could have been avoided’

Car horns started honking and dogs began to bark. That’s the first thing that Laura Jiménez and Vicente Cantador remember. Then they heard the sound of water. But it wasn’t falling from the sky, because not a single raindrop fell that afternoon in Catarroja. It was coming from the ground. “It’s the ravine that has overflowed,” they thought. They saw a tongue of water, small at first, advancing from the far end of the street towards their building door. They ran down from the first floor where they live and hurried to get their car out of the underground garage. There was a rush of water. In the space of just two minutes, chaos ensued. With some of the neighbors, Vicente raced to erect a makeshift dike at the garage door using trash bags. Then the lights went out at number 7 on Blasco Ibáñez Avenue. Vicente went back upstairs to calm down his son, who was crying. They heard screams and banging. Everything was dark.

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Coordination:

Brenda Valverde Rubio

Design:

Ana Fernández

Art direction:

Fernando Hernández

Development:

Alejandro Gallardo and Carlos Muñoz

Infographics:

Rodrigo Silva and Jacob Vicente

Video editing:

Olivia López Bueno and Paula Casado