PAIPORTA, Spain (AP) 鈥� The pictures of the smiling toddlers on the wall somehow survived.
Most everything else in the daycare 鈥� the cradles, the highchairs, the toys 鈥� was ruined when a crushing wall of water swept through Paiporta, turning the Valencia municipality of 30,000 into the likely epicenter of in living memory.
鈥淲e have lost everything,鈥� Xavi Pons told The Associated Press. He said the water level was above his head inside what had been the daycare run by his wife鈥檚 family for half a century, and he pointed to the knee-high mark where the mud reached.
鈥淚 have lived here all my life. This had never happened and nobody could have imagined it would,鈥� Pons said. 鈥淎ll of Paiporta is like this, it is all in ruins.鈥�
Authorities say at least 62 people died in Paiporta, of the 213 confirmed deaths from in Spain on Tuesday and Wednesday. The majority of those deaths happened in the eastern region of Valencia, and local media have labeled Paiporta the 鈥済round zero鈥� of the floods.
Four days have passed since the tsunami-like floods swept through the southern outskirts of Valencia city, The clean-up task ahead remains gargantuan, and the hunt for bodies continues.
Many streets in Paiporta remain impassable to all vehicles but bulldozers, stacked as they are with piles of sodden furniture and household items and countless wrecked cars.
Every foot is caked with mud. Some people wield poles to steady their step as if walking these streets is a hike through a marsh.
A washing machine rests on its side among household junk in a church square. An enormous tree trunk rests inside a store that is missing a wall. An antique chests of drawers, paintings and a teddy bear, all still identifiable among the unrecognizable flotsam trapped in the all-consuming mire.
Lidia Gim茅nez, a school teacher, watched from her second-story apartment as the usually dry canal that divides the town 鈥� 鈥淏arranco del Poyo鈥� 鈥� went from completely empty to overflowing within 15 minutes. She called the aftermath of the flood 鈥渁 battlefield without bombs.鈥�
And it happened without a drop of rain falling on Paiporta.
The storm had unleashed a downpour upstream. That deluge then hurled toward Paiporta and other areas closer to the Mediterranean coast that were devastated by the flash floods.
Paiporta's residents from the regional government on their cellphones until two hours after the dangerous waters rushed through.
The onslaught of water widened the river bank, tearing away buildings and a pedestrian bridge, stripping the metallic handrails from another bridge and pulling vehicles into the canal. Eight wheels are the only parts that remain visible of an overturned truck sunk in Poyo's muddy bottom.
The destruction could take weeks to clean.
walked for more than an hour from Valencia city to help the people of Paiporta, carrying buckets, brooms and shovels as they waded into the grime.
Home owner Rafa Rosell贸n was waiting for heavy equipment to arrive to remove two cars 鈥� one half-resting on top of the other 鈥� that were washed away by the deluge and landed outside his home, blocking the front door. He had to unscrew a metal grating and slip though a window to get inside and witness the mess.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 do anything until those cars are moved,鈥� Rosell贸n said. 鈥淭he government forces that could do something, either from the regional government or the national government, have not done anything to help us. It鈥檚 us, the citizens and volunteers, who are doing all the work.鈥�
Some 2,000 soldiers are involved in post-flood emergency work 鈥� searching for survivors, helping clean up and distribute essential goods 鈥� as well as 1,800 national police officers and almost 2,500 Civil Guard gendarmes. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez said Saturday that they have rescued about 4,800 people and 鈥渉elped more than 30,000 people in homes, on roads and in flooded industrial estates."
Only a small contingent of soldiers was pushing mud in Paiporta on Saturday, when S谩nchez promised another 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 police were on their way to eastern Spain.
Just a few doors down from where Rosell贸n lived, a woman sweeping muddy water from her door burst into tears when asked what she had lost.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 find my husband, so all this doesn鈥檛 matter,鈥� she said.
Another turn revealed a chilling scene; a street filled with half a dozen cars and criss-crossed with countless reeds that before the flood had been growing nearby. A man screams from inside a house: 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing more I can do! There鈥檚 nothing more I can do!鈥�
___
Associated Press writer Teresa Medrano contributed from Madrid.
Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press
