Latest floods in Spain: Army called to Valencia; before and after images show destruction

With Siobhan RobbinsEuropean correspondent

People are angry in the Spanish town of Algemesi.

The suburb of Raval was one of the worst hit by the floods, but residents feel abandoned.

“When the warning came, the water was already two meters high,” Carolina shouts from her balcony.

“There were no police, firefighters or mayor. Nobody came to save us.”

Pain echoes from street to street.

Carmen puts her head in her hands and cries.

“They lost everything and they lost everything,” he says, pointing to his neighbors’ houses.

Every house was left in ruins and its owners were heartbroken.

Dolores shows us the inside of her house.

He said that the flood reached up to the ceiling, but when no help came, they had to make holes in the walls to clear the water.

“I feel very bad. I’m scared and very scared. My husband is sick, we need more help,” she says.

The extent of the destruction is enormous.

We meet Noel and his children on the street.

The youngest child walking barefoot in the mud. Yesterday he and his wife had nothing to eat. He feels helpless.

“There are people trapped right now. They cannot open their doors because there is mud up to their waist. Since I live on a high floor, I have not had any problems with flooding in my house, but I don’t know. We don’t have water, light or food,” he says.

There is a growing sense of helplessness in this suburb.

At one point someone shouts “food” and people run to grab whatever they can from a nearby store.

It is unclear whether they were let in by the owner or whether they were looting.

The devastation is so great that people feel frustrated and alone at a time when they need it most.

In a nearby shelter we meet people from Algemesi who were made homeless by the flood.

Carol says she’s never felt more hopeless.

“A tree trunk came in front of my house. There are no walls, there is no ceiling. I have nothing. There is nothing left,” she explains, starting to cry.

For many, the initial trauma of this natural disaster was compounded by a sense of loss and loneliness in its aftermath.