Critical situation following the devastating flooding in Valencia: the great swamp of Paiporta

Eight days after the Dana storm, the situation in Paiporta, one of the towns most affected in Valencia province, was even more critical than it was on the Tuesday after the great flood. The sewage system of this town with a population of 27,000 had become clogged with mud that had been deposited in the pipes after a week of cleaning out houses, ground floors and underground car parks.

On Wednesday this week, dozens of streets in Paiporta, especially in the old town, had turned into a huge swamp where the smell was unbearable, where residents, volunteers and workers sank almost half a metre into the mud, with the health problems that this entails, turning a simple act such as walking into a high-risk sport. Meanwhile, some local police officers looked on helplessly in the face of a situation that was beyond them, trying to cut off streets so machines could work, without success. Barely two or three waste tankers could be seen trying to unblock a gigantic blockage with consequences for public health that have yet to become clear.

The most serious problem was that this 'ground zero' was, more than a week after the onslaught of the storm, a town where the roads were still full of unusable junk, mud and more mud. In the narrow streets of the old town you walked in zigzags because the rubbish was piled everywhere.

Dozens of volunteers, with all their goodwill, tried to push mud with brooms into the wider and, in theory, better draining streets but had to queue to get through.

Sources from the local water company confirmed on Wednesday they were concerned about the huge blockage in the sewage system caused by the mud pouring in, and for this reason a national alert has been launched so that all the waste tankers available in Spain travel to the affected towns. This is not just limited to Paiporta, and although it is the most affected municipality, all the towns have pipes full of mud.

In Paiporta, there are streets where health problems due to unhealthy conditions will start to break out at any time. "We are on a countdown," warned a volunteer doctor, who could not believe how it had come to this, with so many people in the quagmire.

A large 'thank you' sign occupied the entire balcony of a house located right next to the ravine. Amparo lives there. She had a Dantesque view of what happened that Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday she looked out, saddened, seeing there is still much to be done in Paiporta.

The bridge that spans the same ravine no longer has barriers on the sides, swept away by the force of the current, and firemen from Logroño were trying to get people to use the cycle lane, sometimes without success.

Practically all the residents have been left without vehicles, so the option is to walk. Vehicles are not much anyway, because the streets are completely impassable.