Rescuers race to find those washed away by Spain’s floods

Five people are missing in Letur, population 950, after Spain’s deadly floods – Copyright AFP OSCAR DEL POZO

Wafaa ESSALHI

Divers plunged into the river while high-mountain police hot-footed through the rubble in a rush to find five residents of the hamlet of Letur missing after Spain’s apocalyptic floods.

Since the floods ravaged the southeastern Spanish village on Tuesday evening, the Castilla-La Mancha region’s rescuers have been working round the clock to locate them, locked in a race against time.

Two women have already been pronounced dead in the region as a result of the rising waters which have claimed at least 158 victims across the Iberian country.

But with “dozens and dozens” still missing, according to a government minister, that toll looks set to rise.

The five disappeared from Letur — population 950 — were two council employees in a van likely swept away by the torrent of water and mud, as well as a couple and a woman, Albacete Civil Guard spokesman Jose Amado told AFP.

Nearly a hundred people have been combing an area of two square kilometres (0.8 square miles) of rugged mountain terrain to try and find them.

– Sniffer dogs –

The search team brings together workers from the Civil Guard, the army, fire brigade, environmental officers, civil protection and the Red Cross. 

Besides this array of rescuers, the searchers have access to “two sniffer dogs, a helicopter and three drone teams with thermal imaging cameras operating 24 hours a day”, Amado said. 

The incessant din of their propellers buzzing in the blue Castilian sky bore witness to the intensity of the search.

But the overflowing river, which has swept away a section of the historic part of the village, is complicating the work.

Though Letur saw “paradoxically” little rain, it had the misfortune of being northwest of the Murcia basin “where it rained a lot, 300 litres per square metre”, the Civil Guard spokesman said. 

“So all the valleys had to absorb it, and here the water came in through the canal, then passed over it with great force and blew everything up, causing a disaster,” Amado added.

At the lush green entrance to the village, security tape barred residents from returning to their tiled-roof and white-walled houses, some of which were now smeared in mud. 

Entire stretches of picturesque historic buildings lie on the ground, while the floods partially destroyed a bridge and left the village square little more than a pile of rubble. 

Resident Rosa Lucia was unsure if she “still has a house”.

The fire brigade evacuated the 70-year-old and her dog from the roof.

“I’m still in shock, it was like a horror film,” Lucia said. 

Her car was swept away by the river, by now slowed to just a trickle again. 

– ‘No words’ –

Letur’s water and electricity were restored Thursday, while villagers who were unable to access their homes were rehoused with relatives.

The families of those missing have made the town hall a rallying point for keeping themselves up to date on the search’s progress.

But their faces betray their despair. 

“Here we all know each other, we’re one big family. There are no words to explain how we feel,” said 21-year-old student Miguel Rivero, reeling off the first names of each of the victims.

Among them is a couple in their 30s, whose wife is “a former employee of my father’s company and her husband a colleague of my mother’s,” he said.

The mother in question was inconsolable while talking about the missing young woman.

“I watched her grow up,” she blurted out between sobs. 

Covered in mud from head to toe, Rivero was lending a hand to his uncle, whose whole house and its belongings have been devastated from the furniture up to his prized vintage car.

“Everything is trashed, but it’s still equipment,” the student said, his arms loaded up with the contents of his uncle’s garage.