The only thing left inside the preschool is pictures of smiling small children, high up on the walls. Everything else – the cribs, high chairs, and toys – was destroyed when a wall of water swept through the town.
Xavi Pons, whose wife's family has run the preschool for 50 years, tells that the water level was over his head.
I've lived here my whole life. Something like this has never happened before, and no one could have imagined it would do so, he says to AP.
Over 200 dead
213 people have been confirmed dead in Spain, the authorities announce. 62 of them died in Paipaporta. The figure may rise further as the rescue work continues, and cars stuck in tunnels and underground parking garages are reached.
In Paipaporta, many streets are still impassable, blocked by piles of wet furniture, countless car wrecks, trees, and debris. Those that are passable are covered in thick, sticky mud.
Lidia Giménez saw from her second-floor apartment how the normally dry canal went from empty to overflowing within 15 minutes after the heavy rainfall upstream. She describes the situation in the town as "a battlefield without bombs".
Criticism: No help
The water masses swept away a bridge, razed buildings, and dragged vehicles with them as they surged through the town. Paipaporta's residents received no flood warnings from regional authorities to their mobile phones until two hours after the flood had devastated the town.
Neither the regional government nor the national government has done anything to help us. It's us, the residents and volunteers, who are doing all the work, says a man.
Missing husband
The criticism of the authorities has been great. Warnings came too late, and the emergency aid is not sufficient, many believe. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised on Saturday that 10,000 extra soldiers and police would be called in to help with the rescue effort.
Now, the residents, with the help of thousands of volunteers and some soldiers, are working to clean up. A woman who mops dirty water from her door bursts into tears when asked what she has lost.
I can't find my husband, so all of this doesn't matter, she says.
