In it day six of the tragedysolidarity is no longer enough. The mayors of some of the Valencian municipalities devastated by DANA They ask for forceful actions by the rest of the administrations, specialized and economic help to be able to move forward. They have been in charge of managing and distributing all the clothing or food that has arrived by different means.
Most of the areas devastated by the flood, although with mobile coverage problems, have been able to recover electricity and water. However, the situation remains critical and some points remain incommunicado, they explain. four mayors of the province of Valencia to ABC. “This is not going to end today or tomorrow.” The official death toll has stagnated at 210, but councilors expect many more. There are still streets covered in mud, stacked cars and flooded garages that have not been accessible.
One third of the town of Utiel still flooded. Gas has not yet been restored for its 12,000 inhabitants in an area where the nights are beginning to get cold. «We have lost six lives. There are hundreds and hundreds of people who have lost everything. The roads are burst. We need a lot of help to rebuild the city and the homes, because people have been left on the streets,” says Ricardo Gabaldón, mayor of this municipality, the first to request the intervention of the Military Emergency Unit on the day of the tragedy.
Image of the cleaning work, this Saturday, in the streets of Utiel
«Now is when we really have to see if we are abandoned or not. I trust not, but that will depend on what is done or not with the management. All this has to move and it has to be fast, because if not, the ones who are going to pay for it will be the citizens,” Gabaldón emphasizes on the coordination between the different institutions.
«We have already saved the emergencybut local competitions only go as far as they go. I don’t want to attack any administration, I just want them to step up. We all have to do the reconstruction together: the municipality, the community and the State,” he says.
«There is coordination, but from the street it is difficult to see it. As mayor, I do not feel abandoned, but I understand that feeling in the citizens,” explains Maribel Albalat, councilor of Paiportaone of the municipalities hardest hit by the flood. “We need an even greater deployment of firefighters and the Army to finish removing bodies and complete the cleanup, because we cannot endure this situation any longer,” laments Albalat, who is in charge of more than 27,000 people.
Fear of sewage clogging due to mud
In Massanassa (9,500 inhabitants), also in the metropolitan area of Valencia, there is concern that the removal of the mud that still accumulates in the streets will end up causing a health problem. «If we throw all the water mixed with mud into the sewers, it will destroy all the collector infrastructure in the area. We have to wait for the machinery to arrive to remove it, even if it dries out,” warns its mayor, Paco Comes.
The same thing happens with waste: “We are making divisions so that people do not throw garbage on the street and have it, for example, on the balcony, until we can restore the container collection service in some areas. Meanwhile, the municipal architect along with 20 volunteers from the sector are evaluating the buildings with flooded basements to see if they have suffered damage and whether or not the neighbors have to be evacuated, “at least so that people can stay calm,” says Comes. .
In Torrentthe UME and the firefighters work to continue opening rural roads to alleviate the situation in which some urbanizations have been left, bringing them food and machinery. The mayor, Amparo Folgado, asks that the Government of Spain clarify what types of aid it is going to send, not only for families who have lost their homes in the municipality, but to rebuild communication infrastructures.
«We are talking about 90,000 inhabitants who enter and leave the city every day. At this time we have an access road that is via the AP-7. Tomorrow is Monday and I don’t know how many people are going to be able to go to work. People ask us why we have practically three bridges that are impassable and connect us with the city of Valencia and other municipalities. We need certainties», Folgado ditch.
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