"At half past six, she asked me from the balcony if the town could get flooded. I told her it was impossible. I'm 60 years old and I had never seen it flood. My elders had always led me to believe that it was impossible. Still, as a civil servant who knows the system, I knew that if there was any danger, the authorities would contact us via WhatsApp or text."
"On 29 October 2024, we left work at half past four in the afternoon and arrived home at around five to our apartment on the fourth floor of a building in Benetusser, on the outskirts of Valencia. Despite working for the regional government, we had received no warning about the rains that were falling in the interior of the Valencian community. But my daughter a nurse working at La Fe hospital on the intensive care ward was scared."
On 29 October 2024, storms brought the heaviest rain of the century to the Iberian peninsula and triggered explosive downpours linked to climate change. Floodwaters broke through Valencia by the time the national alert system sounded around 8.30pm. Toni Garcia returned home to Benetusser with her husband and daughter and received no official warnings despite working for the regional government. Her daughter, an intensive care nurse at La Fe, feared flooding that evening. Family routines and close bonds are described, and the storm resulted in the deaths of her husband and daughter, leaving profound loss.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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