Elderly people in a freezer and car and bus rescues due to downpours on the Ebro River
The Catalan emergency services had to face a day that at times exceeded its capacity.
BarcelonaThe C-12 highway near Alcanar was like a swimming pool. And in the middle of this large pool of water created by the overflowing of the Galera ravine, there was a car. A vehicle with two elderly people inside, up to their necks in water. The depth was almost two meters. Rescue specialists from the Catalan Fire Department swam to the surface, pulled one person out through the window and the other through the door, and brought them to a dry area. This was one of the 31 rescues the Catalan emergency services carried out last Sunday. the day the Dana flooded and frightened the Terres de l'Ebre. They were complicated rescues, at night, with a lot of water and many services simultaneously.
"In 20 minutes, the streets accumulated a meter and a half of water. Initially, the demand for services exceeded the response capacity," explains Oriol Pellisa, a fire department sub-inspector who was the watch commander that day. The priority, as always in these types of emergencies, was to save human lives. In Santa Bárbara, two elderly people were also trapped in a car. The flood carried the vehicle to a streetlight, which stopped it and prevented them from falling into a ravine just a few meters away. "Two rescuers tied the car to keep it from moving, and waited." An "agonizing" 20-minute wait, pouring rain, and pitch black. Until the water level receded, they couldn't get them out of the car. The water reached the roof of the vehicle, but they were isolated inside. Eventually, they were able to get them out and took shelter for an hour at a neighbor's house.
The wait for around thirty passengers on two buses was also long. They were completely blocked by the water at La Ràpita. One bus was headed to Peñíscola with eight passengers, and the other, with around twenty, was packed to Vinaròs. One bus had a flat tire and had to wait for another bus to continue its journey once the downpour had passed. The firefighters secured them and waited, again, for the water to recede. "There are rescues you have to do immediately, and others you have to know when you can do them," Pellisa points out. Five vehicles with seven passengers inside were blocked in a very complicated area, sandwiched between two streams, which made evacuation practically impossible. And they had to wait for up to two hours. "They behaved excellently," Pellisa comments. At the time, they were "safest" inside their cars, and firefighters eventually got them out when the water level subsided.
Among the difficult incidents to manage was a train with about eighty people on board, which was stopped between Ulldecona and Amposta. They managed to get another train to approach the tail of the blocked train, ushering passengers into the other cars. "For people, five minutes is a long time," Pellisa admits. And even more so for people with medical conditions, since there was a passenger on that train with hypoglycemia.
Behaviors
Their behavior wasn't always so appropriate. Firefighters also had to rescue cars that had previously ignored no-entry signs due to weather conditions. This happened on the Amposta road in La Rápita. "Society expects Marvel heroes to save them. We need mature societies; we don't have heroes, we have people who save people. The fewer people who are exposed, the better," reflects Pellisa.
The Firefighters' deputy inspector explains that, when it comes to self-protection, there's a "big difference" between areas that are repeatedly affected by these emergencies and those that aren't. Unfortunately, on the Ebro River, they've recently become accustomed to flooding, and it's noticeable that people are more cautious. "Apart from some occasional behavior, like driving through areas that were closed off, everyone got along very well," he concludes.
Another complicated area was in the Ullals de Baltasar. This is a very flat area, from which a lot of water flows into the Delta and quickly floods. Firefighters rescued up to 16 people from that area, some trapped in their homes with water up to their waists, and others sheltering on rooftops. These people endured long waits, in some cases up to four hours. And two of them were the protagonists of a viral scene: two elderly people, accompanied by two firefighters, leaving aboard a freezer used as a boat. "We have resources, but also ingenuity," comments the Fire Department deputy inspector.
