Valencia was hit by heavy rainfall and flush floods last week, leading to advisories requesting travellers to exercise caution before going to the region and warning against non-essential travel within the region. While most people with holiday plans would have cancelled their trip, others chose to not only keep their travel plans, but also lend a hand to the local community once there.
Vincenzo Schiavo is a young consultant in Brussels who reached Valencia on Thursday evening and shared his experience with Travel Tomorrow. He was supposed to head out for a road trip the following day, but instead he decided to alter his plans and help the relief efforts.
He landed around 9 pm, with only about an hour delay unrelated to the weather, which is already quite surprising considering the runway had been completely flooded and the airport itself shut down and used as a makeshift shelter.
This is his experience as a tourist in Valencia in the aftermath of the floods.
When you saw the news about the flooding, did you consider cancelling your trip? Why did you decide to still go?
I did consider cancelling and took it hour by hour, but speaking to people there I heard that the city itself was fine and mostly untouched, and the storm looked like it was dying down. Plus, I had two friends joining me there and staying at my sister’s house with me, so I couldn’t leave them on the street. Once I saw they weren’t cancelling flights anymore I figured it was good to go.
How was it travelling there? What was the flight like? How was the airport when you arrived?
The trip itself was smooth, the atmosphere at the airport was eerie but everything else was fine. The only minor issue is that the metro was and still is blocked by the floods, so you can only go towards the city with a taxi or bus.
Where did you stay and how did you get there from the airport?
I took at taxi to my sister’s place, where I am staying. The airport is quite close to the centre, so it wasn’t too expensive.
What was your initial plan for the trip and what did you do instead?
My initial plan for the trip was to stay in Valencia on the 31st, then rent a car on the 1st to go up to Barcelona in a 3-day mini road trip with my friend who lives there and came down to see me.
The idea was to stop in Peñiscola on the 1st of November, Sitges on the 2nd, Barcelona on the 3rd, drop my friend off there and go back down to Valencia on the 4th on my own. We skipped Peñiscola and stayed one more day in Valencia, during which we helped the relief effort in the “La Torre” area south of the city. We then went directly to Sitges, leaving the storm behind us around Tarragona. The trip was mostly smooth, it had rained a bit but nothing major. On the 3rd we went to Barcelona as planned, again it was a fairly smooth trip, but, when we arrived, we discovered that, in the meantime, Sitges had become completely flooded. It was a bit scary if I’m honest.
I timed my departure from Barcelona on the 4th so that I would leave around 7:30 am, when the storm was about to reform above the city and had cleared further south. Leaving the city was chaotic and very, very rainy, but the majority of the trip down was smooth. The only issue was they closed the motorway around Tarragona so I had to take other routes, which turned a 3 hour car ride into a 6 hour off-road drive along mountain paths. When I got to Valencia I saw the pictures of the aftermath near Barcelona, again it was a surreal experience.
Now I am back in Valencia with another friend, as planned. I will be staying here until the 10th if nothing major happens.
What did it feel like to arrive in Valencia as a tourist in the aftermath of the disaster?
On Thursday I did not really notice. Shops and some restaurants had closed early and people weren’t out and about as much, but it was also a bit rainy so if you hadn’t known any better you would not have been able to understand the magnitude of what was happening just a few kilometres south. The next morning was the same, except some of the people who had gone to support the clean up early in the morning were already starting to come back, so you could spot the odd person covered in mud with a broom and a bucket.
When I really started processing what was going on was when we got the car and drove down towards the south of the city, on the 1st of November, to try and help out. It felt like driving through a city in a zombie-apocalypse movie. Things were closed, the parts nearer the bridges connecting to the disaster zones were quiet and dirty, with cars parked all over the place. Then suddenly the odd mud-covered person became two, then three, then ten, and then you could spot a sea of people walking on the various bridges, heading south, bringing clothes, food, water, and anything that could help. I had seen videos online but seeing it in person was something else.
I don’t think the pictures and videos you see on the news give justice to what is happening, both positively and negatively, and it is important that people understand just what this city is going through, and that they need all the help they can get.
I don’t think I can ever forget what I saw.
Vincenzo Schiavo
The plan was to head to La Torre to give some clothes that my sister asked me to donate to the collection point, and then walk to Paiporta (one of the most affected areas) to see how we could make ourselves useful. We ended up staying in La Torre because clearly there was a lot to do there as well.
This was day 1 of the clean-up effort, as nobody could clean the day before due to the rain. There were cars on top of each other, houses completely destroyed, mud everywhere. There were some police officers helping coordinate the efforts, redirecting people to the clothes/food collection points, and handing out brooms and other tools. Other than that, there were people, young and old, some fully equipped, others like my friend and I just wearing trainers and shorts.
The heart of this city is incredible, make no mistake about it.
Vincenzo Schiavo
We got brooms and started cleaning up a street, until we were redirected to a side road that was the most affected in the area. I don’t think I can ever forget what I saw. We started pushing water into the clogged drains, until someone from a house asked us to help them with debris they had inside and in the garden: a wall had collapsed, so they had to clear out a lot of stuff. It was a lovely family, they were making jokes, telling us to “make ourselves at home”, and that they would invite us for beers once it would all be over.
Personally, I also didn’t realise what was happening around me, that it wasn’t just mud we were moving around, that we were completely covered in all sorts of liquids, debris, and destroyed memories. The only moment when I was truly hit by the situation we were in was when I found a picture of a child, she could not have been older than 6 or 7 years old. It was the type of portrait you take at the beginning of the school year. It was floating in the “mud”, half covered, like in a movie. I picked it up, tried to look for the kid or a relative, realised it was impossible, and propped it up against a dilapidated couch on the pavement.
What was truly incredible everywhere around us was the strong sense of community and belonging, pushing everyone forwards. People used makeshift shovels made out of cabinet doors to push more water into the drains. Someone brought food for the locals, which they offered around to the people who had come to help them. Standing knees-deep in debris inside someone’s house and having them offer you a sandwich is not an experience I can describe with words. The heart of this city is incredible, make no mistake about it.
