On Tue, Oct 29, 2024, a devastating flood occurred in the region of Ribera Alta y L’Horta Sud of Valencia, Spain—where half of my family lives. The entire town of Algemesí was underwater, just as our football field was at Westminster after Hurricane Helene. The flash flood turned the beautiful and historical town into a junkyard, with tons of cars piled up on top of each other. In addition, every single street was muddy, polluted, and smelled awful, due to sewage, debris, and river water mixing into the flood. The aftermath was unimaginable, leaving many families in desperate need of help.
A lot of people thought that the flood was only caused by the non-stop rainfall, but that’s not all of it. There was a heavy downpour known as DANA (which translates into English as Isolated Depression at High Levels), a phenomenon that creates disastrous flooding in the Mediterranean, that inevitably happened. However, the dam workers realized that if they didn’t let out water from the dam, it would break and cause catastrophic events and countless deaths. They didn’t have time and had to open a large part of the dam, which led to a rampant flood described by many as a tsunami. Shortly after the event, people began to direct their anger toward the President of Spain and the responsible politicians in the Valencia region who failed to warn the community about the imminent flooding, for which no one was prepared. People were completely oblivious, hanging out in public places such as malls and parks, on the road getting out of work, and commuting home at the time of the flooding. Because of the lack of warning, over 200 people lost their lives.
I interviewed my dad’s cousin, David González, who works as a police officer in Spain; and he walked me through his experience during the flood. He was stationed right outside the town on a bridge when he saw the flood rapidly flowing down the street as if it were a river. He was the one to sound the alarm which alerted the station. “There were traffic lights, street signs, and large trees yanked out the ground by the strong wave and cars floating around as if they were toys,” says González.
He found himself at the intersection of the tide, where it ran the strongest, as he saw numerous people being dragged by the powerful water. Responding by instinct, as no one there had ever experienced anything like this before, he joined hands with four other police officers miraculously rescuing more than 50 people. He shared that a big tractor came that night, and a police officer went to save people stuck in vehicles. They saved over 60 people from drowning in their vehicles. The raging inundation flooded the entire town of Algemesí within minutes, submerging the lower levels of apartments, where the elderly people lived. A traumatic event that González will never forget.
The 2025 Spain Global Program trip and our visiting Spanish exchange group were not affected by the events since the city of Valencia and the town of Segorbe were completely intact, north of the flood. Nonetheless, the events will provide a learning opportunity for all. “There’s so much we can learn from it; how the Valencian community responded to the crisis with such courage and resilience, and how the love, compassion, and overwhelming support of the Westminster community was able to extend a hand across the ocean to support and uplift from afar,” says Zeke Hoyos, Middle School Spanish teacher and Global Programs Coordinator.
On Wednesday, December 11, 8th-grade students who have been a part of the Spain program held a bake sale that raised money and awareness for the people in Spain. All the profits will go to World Central Kitchen, a global organization focused on providing fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. Because of the flood, a lot of people’s food and personal items were destroyed. Historical landmarks: gone. Many people lost their places to live. It’s very saddening.
“Besides the military and first responders, a lot of young people (in their 20s) from all over Spain left their busy lives and the comfort of their homes to come to Algemesí to lend a hand and help with cleaning the flood,” says González. For me, it’s a beautiful thing; people, young and old, tired and strong, hopeful and grateful, gathered together to support one another for one shared cause; rebuilding a community.