Finns interviewed by tell from Spain what the devastation of extraordinary floods looks like.
21:15•Updated 21:34
Finnish truck driver Raino Pesonen was on Tuesday driving the truck of his employer’s Kissa Vie transport company towards Fuengirola, Spain, when the road broke in the vicinity of Valencia due to an exceptional traffic jam.
Heavy rains have caused huge flash floods in the southern and eastern parts of Spain. Several roads and bridges in the area have had to be taken out of use.
– There was a terrible thunderstorm and one or two people stopped on the highway there. Then after that you don’t move anymore, says Pesonen.
Pesonen spent the night and Wednesday trapped on the highway. Finally, in the afternoon, he managed to park his vehicle on the side of the road.
Pesonen describes the situation on the congested roads as still “absurd”.
– Trains have derailed and cars have gone with the water. There are an awful lot of people on the bridges looking at that water flow.
According to the police, the trip to Alicante can continue on Thursday at the earliest. The clearing after the floods and the search for victims is still in progress in the Valencia region.
– There has never been anything like this. All roads are closed westward from here, Pesonen says.
Also a Finn traveling in the area Johanna Hyyppä says that he encountered an “unreal and inconsolable vision” when he arrived in Valencia on Tuesday.
– Cars and stuff from a long trip on the highway, he describes to by email.
According to Hyypä, the atmosphere in the city of Valencia on Wednesday has been quiet, if quietly surprising.
“There will be more victims”
A Finn who lived in Spain for 20 years Roy Roos believes that Spain and the Iberian Peninsula are currently experiencing “the most devastating natural disaster of the century”.
Roos has followed the events of the beginning of the week from his home in Fuengirola, southern Spain.
Although Fuengirola, popular with Finns, has been largely spared from destruction, the situation is different in Málaga, less than 25 kilometers away. The city has seen the biggest destruction in the Andalusia region, says Roos.
– In Málaga, there have been about four hundred rescue missions, while here in the region of southern Spain there have been just under nine hundred in total, he describes.
Major damage caused by the storm has been reported in the area, which has cut off electricity and drinking water for residents. Several homes have been completely destroyed, Roos says.
– Some people only have the clothes they had on at that moment. So people have lost fortunes here.
According to Roos’s description, the atmosphere among the residents has been generally subdued in recent days. TV broadcasts show “non-stop” images of flooded areas.
At least 95 people are known to have died in the floods that started on Tuesday. However, the final destruction will only be revealed later.
– There will be even more victims. It’s quite a terrible thing to watch – based on the news, more and more of what has happened is revealed all the time, Roos describes.