Catastrophe in Aldaja: the parking trap, "it’s a cemetery"

Over a thousand people are missing, it is not known how many of them can be found in the car park underground of the Bonaire shopping center, in Aldaia one of the largest in Valencia, where since Saturday they have been searching for survivors of one of the most terrible natural disasters in the history of Europe. The toll, at the moment, speaks of 213 confirmed victims, but the number of those who are untraceable leaves us to fear the worst. The symbol of the tragedy is the car park of the Aldaida mall, where divers are trying to locate the cars and bodies still submerged under three meters of water and mud.

The operations will take time, difficult to calculate how much. When the water arrived the shopping center was operating at full capacity. The shopping center has a capacity of 5,700 parking spaces, both surface and underground, and the poorly concealed fear is that when the torrent of mud arrived, some customers may have tried to reach their cars in the underground part to leave.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government makes it known that they are 3,633 soldiers deployed in the area. Re Felipe will travel to the Valencian Community in the next few hours to accompany those affected by Dana. According to Zarzuela sources, Felipe and Letizia will visit this community together with the prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, and the president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazon. A Sunday during which the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) warned of the possibility of very strong thunderstorms in the areas already affected.

The weather report is worrying. The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has warned of the possibility of very strong thunderstorms today in the Mediterranean, activating the orange alert in the areas of Murcia, Catalonia and Comunidad Valenciana. According to Aemet, more than 100-150 liters per square meter could fall in the areas already affected by the floods of October 29th. The fury of the elements could find its epicenter along the northern and internal coast of Castellon and on the northern and southern coast of Valencia. In Vega del Segura, in the Murcia region, it may rain up to 100 l/m. Precisely because of the rain forecast for today, the transit of non-residents and volunteers in the eleven municipalities of Valencia affected by Dana has been limited, since new rains could complicate the situation

The Official Journal of the Generalitat Valenciana today publishes an ordinance that limits the circulation and pedestrian access of people in twelve municipalities affected by Dana due to the orange alert. The municipalities where people’s access is limited are Aldaia, Alaquas, Pincanya, Paiporta, Sedavi’, Benetu’sser, Alfafar, Massanasa, Catarroja, Albal, Beniparrell and Lloc Nou de la Corona.

Around the Aldaida car park the silence is almost absolute, interrupted only by the last buses of volunteers and the beeps of the machines pumping water. The two ramps, entrance and exit, still have water halfway up, and a machine is working on one of them trying to dry the bottom. The most shocking scene is that of the escalators that get lost and sink into the puddle of mud that has become the underground car park. According to what Josengel Nunez, head of Climatology at the State Meteorological Agency of Valencia, declared to Cadena Ser, what happened in Valencia could be “the most serious humanitarian catastrophe to have occurred in Spain, probably since 1962”, when floods caused a thousand of deaths in the Valles region, in Catalonia.

Barcelona will host the last GP

We are moving towards choosing the Montmelò circuit, in Barcelona, ​​on the scheduled date of November 17th for the last Grand Prix of the MotoGP world championship, the one that should have been held in Valencia. From what leaks from Sepang, the decision has already been taken by Dorna Sports, holder of the MotoGP rights, in agreement with the International Motorcycling Federation.
“We looked at all the possibilities we had”, explained Dorna’s Chief Sporting Officer, Carlos Ezpeleta, “it is very challenging to organize an event in two weeks, but we think that Barcelona is the best possible place given the proximity to Valencia and that many people had already organized to go to the final race: we know we can help the Community of Valencia also from this location”. At this point all that is missing are the final approvals from the Catalan authorities, the Valencian Community and the Spanish government with which Dorna has been in close consultation.
The Circuit de Catalunya will also host the official 2025 pre-season test immediately following the Grand Prix weekend, as originally planned. The Catalan track was preferred for cost reasons to that of Losail, in Qatar.