Antonio (figurative name) died alone in Catarroja (30,142 inhabitants) on October 29, 2024, when the damage left 229 dead in Valencia. The ordeal of this elderly man gripped by a 66% disability began at 7:30 p.m. The overflowing of the imposing Poyo ravine turned its ground floor into an agonizing fish tank. Yours is. In September, the instructor opened a line of investigation to explain how 37 elderly people died connected to the telephone assistance that the Generalitat and the Provincial Council of Valencia provide through a company.
This was Antonio’s last hours, according to the conversation to which EL PAÍS has had access.
Operator: Hi there. I’m Patricia, from the Generalitat’s advanced telecare service. I inform you that the conversation can be recorded, how can I help you?
Antonio: I have half a meter of water at home.
O: Okay, Antonio, try to stand in a high place. I’m going to call your kids, okay?
A: As?
O: Try to stand in a high place. I’m going to call his relatives.
A: Maybe they can’t come by car.
O: I know, but they don’t answer the phone in the emergency services. They are saturated. Give me a moment, Antonio.
Half an hour later, the operator notifies the old man that his daughter is trying to get home. He asks him to keep holding on to the mobile. Antonio stops talking.
Meanwhile, another telephone operator communicates with the old man’s daughter.
Operator: How is the situation?
She: Well, I’m calling my aunt, who lives on the same street. [que la víctima]and he says that the water is up to the waist, what I say, aunt, are they going to let us get to the car? It seems that they are not going to let us arrive, I don’t know how we are going to try to get there.
O: Okay, do you know if the house is two stories?
H: The home, yes. It has three floors, what happens is that I am calling my father and he no longer answers the phone. The plugs have gotten wet and the phone no longer works.
O: Okay, and what do you tell me? You’re accompanied by someone? Your aunt? Right?
H: No, no, no, no. He is alone. My aunt can’t get there. She is an older woman, she lives in another house.
O: Okay, so don’t worry. I’m going to warn you that the water is up to your waist and that you have reduced mobility, okay? I’ll let you know now.
H: So… okay, I just don’t know… we’re going there in the car, I don’t know how far we’re going to be able to go in the car.
O: Nothing, call 112 [centralita de emergencias de la Generalitat]to the firefighters, okay? with any thing we are informing them.
H: Yes please. Thank you so much.
O: To you.
The last communication in the extremes It is registered between the daughter and a telecare operator. Another different employee.
O: Hello, good evening, tell me.
H: Hello, I’m the daughter, you just called me and I just had [el teléfono] charging on the other side. You just called me.
O: Okay, yes, nothing, just a moment. Your father called us at 7:30 p.m., because his house was flooded. So, we left the notice on 112. We located it again at 8:00 p.m. Okay? But we haven’t contacted anyone since.
H: No, now. Let’s see. I’m talking all the time with a colleague of yours, I don’t know… a while ago I called again. Let’s see, I call 112 and they don’t…
O: No no. 112 is saturated. It has a number of… it has an optional number, okay? Which is what he has given us. And even then not all the calls we make to them come through.
H: If my father no longer… he can no longer pick up the phone.
O: Of course, we have requested the notice now at 9:30 p.m., we no longer know anything else.
H: You don’t know anything, you don’t know anything, if they have gone or anything.
O: No.
H: Of course, he has reduced mobility and does not…
O: Yes, yes, no. If we have people completely trapped without an upper floor… we have people on the ground with the house flooded, we have people with totally reduced mobility who barely… They are on top of a table because they cannot be lifted higher so they don’t get wet, and everything is fatal.
H: And one thing, do you have proof? Of course, I don’t even know what that area is like.
O: No, no, no. He doesn’t pick up the phone for us either. We have…There are companies that have completely cut the line.
H: That’s what I was going to tell you. It’s just that I’m calling the surrounding neighbors to see if… Or to tell me under what condition…
O: For example, I tried to contact my family in the Valencian municipality of Picassent, the entire Vodafone line was down.
H: It’s fallen, right? That’s why… I mean, it’s because I knew, I tried to get closer and we got stuck in… well, in La Torre. [barrio de Valencia] with all the cars, well… floating around. It’s been… well… It’s apocalyptic, really. And the thing is, I’m calling to… no, no, no, it’s all cut off, right? To find out what…
O: Yes, yes, correct. No, no, the thing is that the Silla track is inaccessible, because at the height of Massanassa because of the Ikea and everything, it has overflowed the ravine.
H: It has overflowed. The overflowing chair track, okay, okay.
O: Yes, all, that is, the entire chair track is overflowing. The A3 highway, which is all that goes through Torrent, etc., is also overflowing.
H: Correct, they are all cut […] Well, nothing. I imagine that my father, in the worst case scenario, sitting on the stairs with his butt sticking up, may have been able to go up, you know? I don’t know. Let’s wait and see that everything goes well. We are super worried.
O: Let’s see, I understand, I understand…Everyone is the same, but it’s not…it’s just that at seven in the afternoon there have already been accesses to homes that the firefighters have told us they could not access.
H: They couldn’t access.
O: We are talking about seven in the afternoon.
H: Yeah, okay.
O: In some places, especially in the La Ribera region. Here, in the L’Horta Sud region, the whole disaster began around 7:30 p.m. Around 8:00 p.m., but in the region of La Ribera they have been experiencing overflows since this morning.
H: Since this morning. Okay, okay, nothing. I thank you for the information.
O: Nothing. If we knew anything, we would call you.
H: Okay, okay, I’m waiting, thank you very much.
O: Okay, good night.
Antonio was one of the 25 deaths caused by the worst storm of the century in Catarroja.
