MAE: Romanian Dies in Spain Floods; 15 Others Still Missing

Seven people lost their lives after being trapped by floods in the garage of their apartment building in the La Torre district near Valencia. According to Spanish media, three of them are Romanian, while the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not officially confirmed any deaths. “The couple arrived in Valencia more than 22 years ago from Romania,” the Spanish publication ABC reports.

“There’s no water in the garage. We’re going down to get the cars.”

These were the last words one of the seven residents from the building on Mariano Brull Street said to his father before entering what would become a deadly trap. It was 8:36 p.m. on Tuesday night, the last time the couple, Gabi and Dana, connected on WhatsApp, according to a friend.

The couple went down to the garage with their daughter Alex and the neighbor who had called his father. There, they encountered four others. None of them had time to reach their cars before they perished.

A torrent of water reaching a height of two meters swept through the garage door, claiming all seven lives. In Gabi, Dana, and Alex’s home, the lights were on, and the table was set for dinner.

“The only things missing were the keys and mobile phones,” reported their relatives in Valencia, as quoted by the Spanish publication ABC. The couple, described as “good, hardworking friends,” had come to Valencia from Romania more than 22 years ago. Their friends had become family. Seeing that they hadn’t responded to messages and calls amid the storm on that fateful Tuesday afternoon, one friend rushed to the building on Maestro Brull Street. He donned rubber boots and made his way alongside the railway.

When he arrived, he found a scene of horror, with “cars piled up” on the sidewalk outside the building, and water on the facade reaching two meters high. Firefighters and police were already on the scene, and he convinced one of them to go up to the first floor where the family lived. Inside, there was no one—only a table and some candles burning.

The death toll from the floods in eastern Spain has risen to 158, Spanish rescue services announced on Thursday. This toll, the highest since the floods that claimed 300 lives in October 1973, “is expected to rise, as we assume many people are still missing,” warned Ángel Víctor Torres, Minister for Territorial Policy, on Wednesday evening.

Photos provided by Romanians living in Spain.