Irish people in Valencia tell of 'apocalyptic' scenes as death toll passes 150 with many feared missing

An Irish woman in Valencia said the city felt “apocalyptic” on Thursday with sirens filling the air as over 155 people have been killed following flash flooding.

Major rescue efforts continue in the Spanish region as an unknown number of people are still missing. The catastrophic event has been dubbed the worst natural disaster in Spain’s recent memory.

Claudia Waldron from Donegal, who is living in Valencia City Centre, said the weather was calmer on Thursday. However, residents were scrambling to get water and bring supplies to shelters for people whose homes were destroyed.

READ MORE: Irishwoman in Valencia tells of devastation as over 70 people confirmed dead from flash flooding

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The 30-year-old told the Irish Mirror: “It’s mental, sirens are going on all over the city, it’s a bit apocalyptic. Weather-wise it is calm today but the atmosphere in the city is quieter, especially because it’s Halloween it would normally be mad. Some of the villages that were destroyed are only 20 minutes from here [the centre], but it feels like two different worlds.”

Seamus McCluskey, who is the co-owner of Irish pub Saints and Scholars in the city, had a lucky escape when his car rose in the flooded streets, but he managed to get home. The Irish man struggled to get home on Tuesday night as roads turned into rivers and public transportation was halted.

He told RTÉ News: “On the journey home we got caught 10 minutes outside Valencia, we saw water coming and coming and the car started lifting up so we made the decision to go forward. Thankfully enough we got out of it because the 10 or 12 cars behind us were unfortunate enough not to get there. I’ve never seen anything like this before, it was a complete disaster.”

The Saints and Scholars pub reopened on Thursday for its Halloween event. Irish residents living in the city say there was more activity outside yesterday. However, they continued to receive alerts from the Government urging those who could to stay inside and off the roads. Shauna Supple, from Dublin, said it was “shocking” that residents were only alerted to the serious flooding at 8pm on Tuesday night, hours after the worst of the devastation occurred.

Her husband was driving a motorbike on the treacherous roads trying to get home when his phone pinged with the alert. The 29-year-old said: “It was really scary. His motorbike was on the ground, luckily he was strong enough to get it up and it wasn’t damaged.

“Luckily, his journey back doesn’t go by the river so he managed to get back okay but I think he got a bit of a fright because the alarm went off when he was on the bike.” Shauna, who has lived in Valencia for two years, said she can’t understand why residents weren’t alerted to the serious weather conditions sooner.

She added: “We don’t understand what has happened. It’s very strange there was no warning. Even on the weather app, it might say there’s a severe storm coming, but there was nothing like that. I realised how serious it was only when the first alert was sent out to everyone's phones.

“Today, there is more activity outside but we have received alerts today that they are recommending no one to leave the house or stay off the roads.”

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