« My daughter and my husband have disappeared »: anguish in the last ‘whatsapps’ of the victims of the Dana | Spain

Calls without answers. Messages that first transmit tranquility and then anguish. The Congoja reflected in a few words of a WhatsApp that never reaches your recipient. Catarroja judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, that instructs the summary to elucidate the criminal responsibilities of The tragedy That on October 29 it cost the life of 228 people and left a trail of destruction in the province of Valencia, has taken a statement as injured in recent weeks to dozens of people who lost their relatives for those In the floods caused by torrential rains. His testimonies, in some cases accompanied by screenings of these last communications, are the reflection of the drama that was lived that day. These are some:

« All controlled. » At 58, Esther (figurative name, such as that of all those who appear in this information) life fell down on October 29. That day she was alone at her home in Valencia, since her only daughter and her husband had gone a few days before a house they had in Pedralba (3,000 inhabitants), a municipality located inside the province, 43 kilometers from the Valencian capital. About 11.15 of that morning her husband sent her a WhatsApp message in which she told her that she was raining from the first hour, but that « all controlled. » However, shortly before six in the afternoon, her husband sent her a new message, this time to tell her that « she spent a lot of water ahead of the house » and that both he and their daughter were inside. He didn’t talk to them again. He sent a message to the occupants of a nearby home in case they knew something at 17.07 – ”You have seen them or heard something?” – But they had no news of them. His daughter’s lifeless body appeared in Mareny de Barraquetes, 71 kilometers away. Her husband was on March 4, when she declared, one of those who were still missing. Esther assured the judge that he still feels that « they are there, that they are about to return. »

« What I do? ». Antonio called his son Tomás past three in the afternoon because he was worried about the rain. This initially reassured him by telling him that he was already at home, in La Torre (Valencia district of 4,800 inhabitants), where he lived with his girlfriend. However, five hours later, the young man got back in touch with his father to tell him that he was worried about the car and the two motorcycles – ”his passion” – which he had in the property of the property. « What do I upload it up? « I don’t know what you can do, » was the father’s response. « I have uploaded it up and we’ll see, » Tomás replied. It was his last communication. From that moment on, Antonio tried to contact whatsapp with him – « Call me », « I guess you will be without coverage », « I’m worried » – without success. His son and his girlfriend had died.

« I am desperate. » Violeta saw his father Fernando alive for the last time at 4:20 p.m. on October 29, when he visited him at his home. Two hours and half later spoke on the phone with him to warn him that the water went down strongly through the ravine, although they did not give importance because it had passed more times. However, according to the situation worsened, the woman began to worry – « was desperate because the water kept uploading” – already calling and sending messages to her father without response. Meanwhile, her husband and daughter tried, without success, to get to Fernando’s house. The messages he sends to another woman also reveals his anguish for them – ”my daughter and my husband have disappeared. They were going by car” -. These could finally get safe. His father, no. The body was found 700 meters from the house after being dragged by the flood that had collapsed the house.

Concern after alert. Manuel and his son Luis could not contact Fernando, son and brother respectively, that day. The second, after receiving the Generalitat’s alert on his mobile, worried a lot because he knew that in Pedralba, where his brother lived, « he usually rains a lot. » Although he telephoned him several times and repeatedly sent WhatsApp messages, he could not contact him. His brother’s phone did not even receive the messages. Then they knew that Fernando had disjointed his partner, who had asked him to go to Valencia, where she was. « What happened later was not expected, that a five -meter wave arrived in Pedralba, » says Manuel. A day, Luis and his brother’s couple arrived at the house, but only found the dog. « There were many stones, mud, reeds in the house. There was water at half -leg height, » he recalled to the judge. Two days later they were informed that they had found the body. He was on the ground floor of the house, in a stay that served as a pantry, buried under debris and mud.

« Water entered the car. » Dana’s day, Luisa had a month left to be a grandmother. His 26 -year -old Jésica worked in a Ribarroja polygon driving a truck and was missing only two days to take the leave for the end of pregnancy. That day, Jésica called her mother shortly before seven in the afternoon to tell her that « water entered the car, which drown. » Then the communication was cut. However, the young woman was able to send a message with her location to another relative. With that fact, Luisa tried to reach her partner to that place, but they didn’t succeed. At 19.50 he called him again, but « he no longer gave signs of life. » The woman assured the judge that her daughter managed to get out of the car and get on the roof of another vehicle in which three boys were, but that a merchandise container hit this and everyone fell into the water. The others managed to save themselves, but their daughter, despite knowing, no. Four days later they found their body. In her statement before the judge, the woman offered to contribute the audios that her daughter sent before she died to a friend.

« My husband never left his daughter. » A Benetússer garage (Valencia, 16,322 inhabitants) was transformed into a lethal mousetrap for the daughter and husband of Maria, 60. At 19.26 hours on the day of the Dana, 45 minutes before the Generalitat sent the mass alert to mobile phones to inform the magnitude of the catastrophe, both relatives went down to the parking lot to try to take out their new car. « They thought the vehicle would be better above, » the victim told the magistrate. A minute before, a « brown water tongue » had penetrated the population. And, in a matter of seconds, the thrombus flooded the patio of the building, where the water reached 2.30 meters. Maria called her daughter’s boyfriend, but the kid could not enter the house. And, the mother, desperate, bombed 112 calls, to the Civil Guard, the National Police … « They did not take it to me, » he laments. « At 8:07 p.m., when the water reached the balcony of the first floor, the victim glimpsed the destruction. » There were cars crashing, vehicles that hit the farms and low floors (…) a neighbor was very angry, hitting voices, the alarm had sounded (the alert SMS that the Generalitat at 20.11) and cursed why (the message) had arrived so late.  » Days later, a team of divers of the Emergency Military Unit (UME) took out the lifeless bodies of Maria’s relatives. “My husband was with his daughter. He would never leave her, ”ditch.

« My mother came to vomit mud. » Sara’s mother was a widow and lived with an assistant that took care of her on a ground floor (Valencia, 27,144 inhabitants). The day of the catastrophe, a neighbor told him: « Over. » He asked him to move to the first height of the building. A wave of water already crossed the population and the ravine of the poyo, trigger for the tragedy, had overwhelmed. Sara’s husband went to attend his mother -in -law, which, to protect himself from the rabid waters, had already abandoned the ground floor. The thrombus, however, collapsed the roof of the building, buried the old woman in debris and unleashed the chaos. « My mother was getting wet between water, debris, mud. He came to vomit mud, » concludes the victim’s relative.

The policeman who died to go down to « help the neighbors. » Sandra will never assimilate her husband’s death because of the flood on October 29. Port Police, Atlético, Marathon Corridor and Brey in Swimming Tests in the Open Sea, as dozens of neighbors made the lethal error of trying to get his car out of a Benetúser garage, where the cold drop segated the life of 10 people. They spent seven in the afternoon and, although it did not rained, through the streets of the town they sailed cars, uncontrolled vans and the neighbors asked for help to shout. According to several witnesses, a truck hit the man’s head and violently pushed him into the parking lot. His body was rescued the next day. The man leaves two children, 17 and 9 years old. « He went down to help the neighbors and he couldn’t save him, » laments his widow.

The flood took her family: « They told me that a patrol was coming. No one came. » Mariana lost her father and her two brothers in the Aciaga Day. At 5:30 p.m. on that day, almost three hours before the regional executive sent the mass alert to mobiles, this victim received the first call for despair of his relatives. « My brother told me that he was drowning and asked me to notify 112, » she points out to the Emergency Care Center of the Generalitat, which recorded almost 20,000 communications on October 29. « I called and told me that a patrol was coming. No one arrived, ”adds this neighbor of Xirivella (Valencia, 31,745 inhabitants), where the water turned the municipality into a giant puddle. » After calling, I no longer knows anything again. «