Carlos Codoñer is one of the survivors of the DANA that hit Valencia seven days ago. This Massanassa neighbor got come out unscathed of the water stampede that surprised him while he was coming from work and, one week after the tragedy, he has returned to the scene of the incident to rebuild the odyssey who lived
The area is still a mud bog which is difficult to navigate. However, Carlos says that it has nothing to do with what he experienced that tragic night. As he explains in an interview with Vozpópuli, it all started when he returned home after finishing his work day. His wife, Esther, called him to warn him not to drive home because it was raining. Taking into account that they have a ravine nearby, he decided to go in the opposite direction, to Alcosa Park (Alfafar), to park the car there.
“I was coming from Malvarrosa and my wife told me: ‘Don’t come home because the water is coming in’. I went in the opposite direction. I have a ship in Benetússer and I thought: I’ll leave it in the ship and take a look at it along the way,” account. Carlos believed that this would protect him from this principle of flooding, but the opposite happened: the water was already descending from Paiporta at great speed and it was irreversible. When he encountered the first torrent of water, he realized that he would not be able to cross with the vehicle, so he reversed to park it, but things “got worse.”
“A car fell on me”
“The car started to go up. The windows went down by themselves and the lights came on. a car fell on me on the front side. “The nose was completely submerged in the water,” he says. Faced with this situation, he decided to get in the back of the car. However, the water began to quickly enter through the windows and, when it was already covering his neck, he had to make a crucial decision: get out of the car or stay inside. He opted for the first of them.
“Then I tried to survive. In the video I recorded I say why did I go here and not there? I didn’t go to the buildings on my right because I was looking for a fence and I thought I would have more protection, but when I was already at the fence I thought: ‘Here I die'”. Carlos says that everything happened very quickly and that his survival instinct guided him, although he recognizes that the story could have had a different outcome.
I am a strong person, an athlete for many years and I am in good physical shape, but a person who is not strong does not get out of there. In my case, the neighbors helped me and that was decisive. “They risked their lives and saved me,” he says.
In the middle of the torrent of water he began to swim, leaning on the cars. Their objective was to reach the sidewalk, but the speed of the flood and the traffic of cars, which were already being dragged by the flow, complicated the objective. Finally he reached the shelter of a bus stop, where he tried to get on without success. “I tried to get on but I couldn’t because my clothes were too heavyit didn’t have much strength and the water was cold. I thought about holding on and saw that another torrent was coming out from the other side. So I decided to cross to the building opposite because there were bars and I thought it would be a safer point,” he reasons.
“They risked their lives and saved me”
When he succeeded, another setback came: the fence began to give way and the window to swell. At that moment some neighbors who were witnessing the situation came to his rescue. Carlos shouted at them as best he could to help him and they, two people of Romanian nationality, they threw a rope at him that was tied to the body. However, they could not lift him to the house, so he had no choice but to swim to the portal. “I was more tired and my clothes were too heavy. It was cold and I asked them to come down and open the patio, but I stayed calmer there,” he explains in an interview with this medium.
Finally, these two Alfafar neighbors managed to open the hallway door and took him into the building. By then, the water already reached practically to the ceiling of the landing, so they had to swim to the first floor. Once there, more residents of the block came to his aid. They lent him dry clothes and took him in that night. “I am a strong person, an athlete for many years and I am in good physical shape, but anyone who is not strong does not get out of there. In my case those people helped me in my life and that was decisive. Without palliatives. They risked their lives and saved me“, he reports.
Today, seven days after the nightmare, Carlos can begin to tell what happened. As he explains, he feels fine now, calm at home and with his family, but he remembers what he experienced as tremendous “anguish” that makes you wake up in the middle of the night. From his story it is clear that in such unimaginable circumstances it is difficult to make correct decisions and that many other people chose to stay inside the vehicles. In fact, those who were accompanied by children or older people would have had a very difficult time leaving the car like he did.
A pending paella
After learning what happened, his daughter Marta asked him to introduce her to the people who helped him. He, for his part, has already come to see them and has planned and how to entertain them when all this happens. “Them I will invite everyone to a paella and we will go to the field. They will begin to be part of my good friends,” he says.
This is the story of a good person who ended well, but the ravages of DANA are still very present in the area. The UME, the Army and the Civil Guard continue with the work in the most affected parts, although there are still many areas to clean. At the time of going to press, the number of confirmed fatalities was 217, although authorities estimate a figure of more than 250 missing. Meanwhile, residents of the most affected areas are slowly beginning to recover basic supplies, although it is estimated that at least 3,000 homes still do not have electricity.
Source: www.vozpopuli.com
