Weary residents trudge the streets as bulldozers try to scoop up the liquid mess. The army is still towing wrecked vehicles that were thrown into the flood.
On Florida Street, people are busy trying to fix broken doors and clean up the mess.
“It will be months before everything is back to normal,” said father-of-two Jose Sánchez Maigalón, whose 43-year-old neighbor was swept away by the flood. “Everyone is screwed, from the local mayor to the regional president to the government in Madrid.”
Many here complain about the slow response of the authorities to help the victims.
“If it weren’t for the volunteers, we would have died of hunger,” Maigalon added. “They bring us food. And hope.”
In the end, Carlos Mazon tried to explain why he did not go to the Operational Coordination Center until 19:00 in the evening of the flood, when the Regional Minister of the Interior, Salome Pradas, was already there.
Pradas herself has since admitted that she was unaware of the ES-Alert text messaging system that was available to warn local people of the risk of flooding.
Shortly after 20:00 on October 29, the first message was sent warning of the imminent risk of the dam breaching.
