In Spain, search for flood victims extends to beaches and lagoons

“It makes sense that they're looking here”: ten days after the floods that brought mourning to southeastern Spain, the search for the missing extends to the beaches and lagoons of the Mediterranean coast, where the bodies of victims have been carried away by the waves.

Day has recently broken in Albufera, fifteen kilometers south of Valencia. Álvaro Carrillo, a Spanish Navy diver, is preparing to leave by boat to search part of the 2,700 hectares of this natural park with about twenty colleagues.

In this freshwater lagoon, separated from the sea by a thin strip of land, are probably some of the victims sought after since the torrential rains that poured down on the region on October 29, leaving at least 219 dead and dozens missing.

In some municipalities, a year's worth of rainfall fell in a matter of hours – as in Turis, where 771 litres of water per square metre (77.1 cm) were recorded. These torrents of water swept away everything in their path and ended up in the sea, at the mouths of the Júcar and Turia rivers or in the Albufera.

In this lagoon, the water is shallow, a metre or a metre and a half at most. It is also and above all murkier than usual, because of everything that the water has carried: furniture, cars, piles of reeds…

The poor visibility “is what complicates our task the most”, Mr. Carrillo, dressed in his neoprene suit, explains to AFP.

This 26-year-old second lieutenant of the Spanish army's Diving Center, says he is ready to work “as long as daylight allows”.

– “Diving teams” –

In recent days, several victims have been found on the beaches in the area, including one by passers-by, according to Spanish media.

Divers from the Cartagena military school prepare to search for victims in the L'Albufera lagoon, near Valencia, eastern Spain, on November 7, 2024 © AFP – Cesar Manso

Authorities, widely criticized for their lack of information over the past ten days, have neither confirmed nor denied this information, but a member of an emergency unit involved in the rescue confirmed to AFP, on condition of anonymity, that at least one body had been found in this area.

The Cecopi, an emergency committee set up by the authorities to deal with the floods, announced on Thursday that it was using ground penetrating radar and bathymetry, a technique used to map the seabed, as part of the search.

“We have increased the number of boats to strengthen the search and location of possible missing or deceased people on the coast, and the number of diving teams has increased sixfold,” Javier Marcos, head of the Military Emergency Unit, said on Friday. (UME).

– Red flag –

“It's sad, but it's logical that they're looking here,” says José Torrent, a Valencian retiree who often comes to walk in the Albufera park, known for its rice fields and restaurants serving paella and boat trips at sunset.

Divers from the Cartagena military school prepare to search for victims in the L'Albufera lagoon, near Valencia, eastern Spain, on November 7, 2024 © AFP – Cesar Manso

The natural park, where thousands of migratory birds will soon come to spend the winter, is normally popular with duck hunters and fishermen. But since the floods, these activities have been temporarily banned by the authorities.

Apart from the murky water, the lagoon looks pretty much the same as it usually does. “The only visible damage is to the fishermen's nets,” observes Gregorio Ortega, a 66-year-old passerby, pointing to the stakes from which the nets used for eel fishing hang.

Near a lock that separates the lagoon from the sea, not far away, firefighters are trying to remove reeds that are preventing a valve from closing. The aim: to allow the water that accumulates in the lagoon to flow properly into the Mediterranean.

On the other side of the lagoon is El Saler beach, a long strip of sand that has remained relatively wild. Here, the consequences of the bad weather are more visible: the place looks like a gigantic cemetery of reeds piled on top of each other, which the tides have spread as far as the eye can see.

To ensure that no one comes to swim, municipal agents have raised a red flag and sealed off access, as in other beaches in the region. “It's for health reasons,” explains one of them.

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