These photographs show the direct consequences of the floods that took place in the towns on the outskirts of Valencia on the night of October 29, 2024 and left 222 dead and three people still missing. They illustrate how overnight life changed for thousands of people who never thought they could be so vulnerable. The level of material and human devastation was practically indescribable during the first few days, but as time passed it became clear that we were facing the biggest natural catastrophe in the history of Spain, evidencing the growing impact of climate change in recent years.
Stories of tragedy and acts of bravery converged in a community in a state of shock that, faced with the lack of responsibility of political figures who underestimated the weather warnings, had to save itself. When at 8:11 p.m. the telephone alarms rang, dozens of people had already died and those who had not, were fighting for their lives with water up to their necks. By then, a giant wave had already swept everything in its path, nothing could be done. From the following morning, while politicians of one ideology or another looked for a culprit without assuming their mistakes, thousands of volunteers from all over Spain arrived in the affected areas to help, still unable to imagine what they saw before their eyes.
With these photographs, I seek to put a face to the tragedy that devastated my city and destroyed the lives of so many people I know.
