Picanya residents say it will be difficult to return to normality after floods: "We're left with nothing"

Residents of Picanya are cleaning the muddy streets and the basements of houses damaged by the flooding from the overflowing of the Poio river, known popularly as Xàtiva.

In this town in the Horta Sud area, where four of the five bridges have been completely destroyed, heavy machinery and tractors are hurrying to clear the areas most affected by the storm, to let emergency services be able to pass through.

Neighbors are out doing their bit too with brooms and rakes, trying to recover vehicles and remove damaged furniture and appliances.

"All of Picanya is destroyed, businesses, companies, families that have been left with nothing. It will be very difficult to return to normal," Pura Raga, local, expressed to the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

The recovery works will take months, and some of the houses close to the river have been completely destroyed, showing clearly how far the water reached.

Rafel Gómez is one of those affected by the flood. On Thursday morning, he was clearing out the few belongings he was able to save, as the water reached the first floor of his home. He and his family were evacuated from the back of the house and, for now, they will live at their parents' house. "The waves were two meters high, they were very strong. Luckily, my house was left standing," he said.

Gómez does not want to put the emergency services or any other people at risk to start clearing his house. He assures that he will wait for a professional to confirm that there is no danger to live there, and then he will start the cleaning tasks. "Everyone needs help, I'm in no hurry, first they help those who need it most," he added.

For Teresa Jericó, the water flooded her entire ground floor apartment. Without electricity, with the house full of mud and all furniture and appliances damaged, she feels totally "abandoned" by the authorities.

 

"Everything is useless, we have been left with nothing, it's time to throw everything out on the street and to redo the whole house. It's uninhabitable, it's a total catastrophe," she told ACN. She will stay in her siser's house for some time, and fears it will take months to recover her life.

"Not even a pandemic is like this"

The workers of a restaurant on Plaça de la Vila de Picanya, together with some locals, cleaned the establishment incessantly. "Inside the premises, everything has become unusable, everything is broken, full of mud, it's horrific," said Raga.

She added that they had "never" experienced a flood of this magnitude. "It was unthinkable that this would happen, the flood of 1957 affected the entire area around the ravine, but this one has washed away everything, even the polygon and the highway," she lamented. "Not even a pandemic is like this."

In the few commercial establishments open, queues of people gather to buy food. Some residents pointed out that they cannot leave the town to go buy food in other places.

The person in charge of the Picanya city council's communication area, Robert Amoraga, explained that the council's priority is to guarantee the safety of residents and the elderly and attend to basic needs, such as supplying medicines and food.

He also highlights the need to recover basic services: "We have recovered a supply of drinking water and electricity in most of the town, but there are still areas without."

Amoraga was not optimistic about the time it will take to return to normal. "It will be a matter of years, there were five bridges and four have disappeared, bridges are not built in a day, the sewer system has also been damaged and we only have the top floor of the Town Hall, the rest of municipal buildings have disappeared," he concluded.