Wrong place , wrong time

[lofty]

I’ve been holed up in a hotel in Valencia for a few days waiting for the roads to open. I imagine most of you will have seen my Mrs on the tv in the last couple of days as she is on a media list.

Thought I’d retell it to my old chumrades at fight club.

I’d been working at my daughter’s house in Amsterdam for 6 weeks putting in 2 new bathrooms and a media wall. I’d driven there from Elche as I needed to take ALL of my tools. Karen joined me for the last two weeks for a bit of company as Jess and Alex were on holiday while dad knocked there house about. Things you do for your kids!

So we loaded up and prepared for the two day drive back. 930km day on and 1035km day two.

I was really nervous while travelling as my tools come to about 7k and I don’t like leaving them in the car so stayed in a hotel with secure parking.

Day two after about 9 hours we were on the A7 on the outskirts of Valencia with a thunder and lightning storm in the distance. I joked and said I don’t fancy driving into that, but many times here you get lightning and not much else.

Well the heavens opened and I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like being at the bottom of a waterfall. The traffic came to a walking crawl and then stopped. We were in the centre lane behind an articulated lorry and just sitting there. I noticed the water start to run onto the motorway and had an inside chuckle as some oranges rolled across the road. It is pitch black with the rain still pouring. The cars were not moving.

I now know the section of motorway we were on was elevated with a 7 foot bank either side of us, so that first inch of water was already 7 feet deep just off the motorway.

A few minutes later and the lane by the central reservation had about a foot of water in and people are starting to beep for the cars to get going.

What none of us knew was the road in front had collapsed into a drain and some vehicles were in it. That meant we were going nowhere, but also there was no oncoming traffic the other side of the central reservation barrier. A concrete wall about 4 feet high.

Water started coming in the footwell and a battery warning flashed. I told Karen I’m winding down the windows just in case. She wasn’t happy but went with it, and two minutes later we floated sideways and t-boned the lorry . Know the only way out was Karen’s window so hauled ourselves out into a fast flowing river of red mud. All the cars were floating and crashing into each other and the water was up to the central reservation and going over. We found a gap and some other people helped my Mrs over.

We ran down the motorway in the dark, soaked and covered in mud and shite until we came to a stopped lorry. The driver, a Moroccan Spanish let us climb up and warm up. There were hundreds of cars floating, some had abandoned ship but some still inside.

I had my phone but my passport ,wallet, kindle etc were in a “ man bag” I had in the boot. I decided to go back and see if it was possible to get to.

I ran back but the water was now coming over the central reservation like a waterfall and the fields either side were like a raging rapids. It was the water going over the trees!. I found the car which was now squeezed in by a van and a car on the bonnet. There was a Spanish guy nearby with a brolly and I gave him my phone and took his brolly with an idea to break a window as the cars rammed against me meant I couldn’t open the boot. Pushing through the water I got to the car and whacked it with the brolly that instantly bent in half doing nothing. I climbed over a car next to mine and this put me in the lee of the water and allowed me to open the rear side door. You have to remember my car , an old Audi A6 estate , was filled to the roof with tools and tool boxes. I grabbed one, my plumbing stuff, walked to the back, climbed on the other car and used the tool box to stuff the rear window in.

I got a rucksack and a small case of clothes ( bloody typical it was my shitty work clothes) out but couldn’t find the man bag . By this time my hands were cut and floating cars were shifting so rather than risk being pinned I retreated over the central res with the suitcase and rucksack and made my way back up the motorway to the lorry. Now there were hundreds of people, zombified not knowing what to do, but I know you’ve got to keep moving away from the danger, so I didn’t stop. Back at the lorry there were now two French women in there 60s warming up. Foudil the driver was so kind and wrapped them in his bedding and gave them his jacket. In the hurry to escape their car they had left a cat and a dog in the car, and were going back for them. I really hope the pets made it.

All of the lorry’s on that side were sat on a slip road trying to get off the A7 , but the actual motorway going north was now empty, so Foudil decided to drive out. It was slow going as there were hundreds stood around and lots of water coming over the concrete central reservation. He got upto about 25 mph when we hit a wall of water where the concrete turned to metal and the water was pouring through. The water smashed into his cab and he lost his lights. If you look up the DHL video in Valencia it was exactly the same except our water became shallow again, and he managed to drive out and got us away from danger. He took us to a truck stop with a motel attached and we parted ways. That guy was a real saviour for us.

The rest of my story is logistics. Trying to wash and dry muddy clothes, trying to get cabs out of Gilet to Valencia. Trying to get out of Valencia. We are booked on a bus Sunday morning so hopefully it will get through as I’ve been advised they are. Today my tracker pinged from the car so there may be workers there clearing the road. I don’t expect to get anything back from the car, years collecting tools and gone in 15 minutes. My daughter has put a go fund me up and I’ll share it in case any club members want to buy me a beer lol. I was wondering how Mal was tonight as he has a place there, and it spurred me to write this. Anyway, no fishing for me until I can replace my car. Should have had the kayak on the roof. I’ll post up a few images below.

 

Life’s short chumrades. I lost everything but we were lucky .

 

Lofty and the current Mrs L

 

https://gofund.me/f090ac38

 

 

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[lofty]

I’ve tried to share my videos but it won’t let me. If your on Facebook look up Lofty Carpentry. There’s a couple on there.

[lofty]

Shortly before we started to float

https://gofund.me/f090ac38


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[Colin-58]

Frightening and devastating news lofty , sorry to read this, but it sounds like you and your wife got through it with only minor injuries , that's something to be grateful for , a terrible ordeal  for you both.                               Colin.

[lofty]

Frightening and devastating news lofty , sorry to read this, but it sounds like you and your wife got through it with only minor injuries , that's something to be grateful for , a terrible ordeal  for you both.                               Colin.

A few cuts and bruises. We were very lucky in many ways. Several hundred dead weren’t so lucky.

[great white]

Bloody hell Steve,

Thanks for taking the time to share that information, regarding your ordeal.

I hope that sharing it helps you in some small way, to stop it getting to hard mentally.

 

I am so glad that you are both OK physically, car and tools can eventually be replaced mate.

 

ATB

Charlie and Wendy

[Jim]

Ditto what Charlie said Steve.

 

[jerry.shutter]

Very frightening Steve, so glad you made it out. Its easy for me to say but that's the most important thing, that you and the family are all still one, vehicles and tools can be replaced. Good luck.

[Baf]

I'm glad you are both safe lofty.

[Mal Thomas]

We are leaving this Thursday Arrive Saturday morning, we heard about your ordeal on TV and tried to offer you our place for refuge, but we could not contact you. We believe our Bungalow is ok, our friends have been there and said it looks ok except for some external stuff. I have been watching all our Local places like Bonaire shopping center with an underground carpark on you tube, it is 6ft deep in there and likely some tragedies. The whole thing is overwhelming and likely to be an ongoing scenario for months to come. The shopping arcade one of Europe's largest when built is trashed. Along with 4 local villages at least, completely trashed and buried in mud and cars. Lots of facilities still not available so taking lots of provisions. So glad your both okay and so sorry for all you losses.

[lofty]

Hi Mal. It seems it was literally luck of the draw. The diverted river did indeed save the city centre. We got home yesterday via bus. It took a winding route through the paddy fields area. That area seems to have been ok ish as it’s designed for water. The A7 will remain closed for weeks. The people of Valencia, especially the young are out in there thousands with brooms and buckets, and the farmers are all there with tractors and diggers. Many places don’t have water and internet. The city itself is business as usual. It’s good your friends have checked. Find out about power and water before you go if you can.
Today, Monday, I’ll begin the ballache of cars , clothes, tools etc, but it’s not lost on me how devastating this is for Spain.


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[Mal Thomas]

We have Electric, water is from a water tank up on the hill a (Pozo) don' know till we arrive. This is devastating for the area,  you and I know from experience in this Country this sort of multi agency stuff takes for ever to finalise. The longer term financial effects will be more than they can afford and will scar the area for decades, they will be approaching the EU for monetary help.

Flood defences will cost millions and the rise in water retained may proof too much for the Dry River bed divert scheme in place, so even more preventative defences required. A bit like Holes bay flood defence scheme, it will take decades to build.

This is just a matter of time before it reaches Blighty. 

[lofty]

The insurance comes from a big pot. It’s impossible for insurance companies to bear the brunt so they all put into a big one , I think CSS or something like that. My car was fully comp but the contents aren’t covered. We have “ExPats” insurance and it turns out it doesn’t cover you for the country you live in, so if I decide to have a holiday in San Sebastián or Cadiz or Mallorca I’m not covered, so only my car and maybe the cost of getting home. The go fund me has been amazing and friends, family and customers have raised a lot to replace some of my tools. Should cover all of my lost Dewalt battery stuff. I’m blown away by people’s generosity at helping out.


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