麻豆影视

Climate and Environment

    • Mud-caked volunteers clean flood debris in a Spanish town as authorities struggle to respond

    People clean the street of mud in an area affected by floods in Sedavi, Spain, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) People clean the street of mud in an area affected by floods in Sedavi, Spain, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
    Share
    CHIVA, Spain -

    Mud cakes her boots, splatters her leggings and the gloves holding her broom. Brown specks freckle her cheeks.

    The mire covering Alicia Montero is the signature uniform of the impromptu army of volunteers who for a third day Friday shoveled and swept out the muck and debris that filled the small town of Chiva in Valencia after flash floods swept through the region. Spain's deadliest natural disaster in living memory has left at least 205 people dead with untold numbers still missing, and countless lives in tatters.

    As police and emergency workers continue the grim search for bodies, authorities appear overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster, and survivors are relying on the esprit de corps of volunteers who have rushed in to fill the void.

    While hundreds of people in cars and on foot have been streaming in from Valencia city to the suburbs to help, Montero and her friends are locals of Chiva, where at least seven people died when Tuesday鈥檚 storm unleashed its fury.

    鈥淚 never thought this could happen. It moves me to see my town in this shape,鈥 Montero tells The Associated Press. 鈥淲e have always had autumn storms, but nothing like this.鈥

    She says she barely avoided the floods when she was driving home Tuesday, and that if she had got on the road five minutes later she believes she would have been swept away like dozens of cars still stranded on the highway that crosses a flood plain between her town and the city of Valencia, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) to the east.

    Tractors roar through Chiva's narrow streets, only briefly stopping or slowing to allow people to toss broken doors, shattered furniture and other debris into the beds before churning their way up, away from the epicentre of the destruction.

    Residents and volunteers meanwhile shovel and sweep out the layers of mud that coat the floors of the ruined shops and homes, the air abuzz with frenetic energy. People carry buckets of water from a large ornamental pool in a town square to wash away the mire. Three young boys take a break to kick a soccer ball around on the slippery street.

    Newcomers are easy to spot because they are clean, but a few steps down Chiva's slippery cobblestones and they are quickly marked with mud.

    鈥淗ow many hours have we been at it? Who knows?鈥 Montero says, while taking a breather from cleaning near a gorge that was filled with a crushing wall of water just days earlier.

    鈥淲e work, stop to eat a sandwich they give us, and keep on working.鈥

    Death by mud

    鈥淎s much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth,鈥 is Charles Dickens' description of 19th century London in his novel 鈥淏leak House.鈥

    In Chiva and other parts of Valencia 鈥 Paiporta, Masanasa, Barrio de la Torre, Alfafar 鈥 mud has become synonymous with death and destruction. The mire flowed into houses and crawled into cars, smashing some vehicles apart and easily lifting and moving others.

    The storm this week unleashed more rain on Chiva in eight hours than the town had experienced in the preceding 20 months. The deluge powered a flood that knocked down two of the four bridges in the town and made a third unsafe to cross. The waters have now receded and the Civil Guard divers are gone, but police keep searching the gorge, smashed homes and underground garages, concerned that the mud could be hiding more bodies.

    鈥淓ntire houses have disappeared. We don鈥檛 know if there were people inside or not,鈥 Mayor Amparo Fort told RNE radio.

    Citizens fill the void left by authorities

    There are so many people coming to help the hardest-hit areas that the authorities have asked them not to drive or walk there, because they are blocking the roads needed by the emergency services.

    鈥淚t is very important that you return home,鈥 said regional President Carlos Maz贸n, who thanked the volunteers for their goodwill. The regional government has asked volunteers to gather at a large cultural centre in the city Saturday morning to organize work crews and transport.

    Electricity was at last restored for Chiva鈥檚 20,000 residents on Thursday night, and there is still no running water. Local governments have been distributing water, food and basic necessities in towns across Valencia affected by the flash floods, and the Red Cross is using its vast network of aid to help those affected.

    In Chiva, the Civil Guard police officers have been searching collapsed houses and the gorge for bodies, and directing traffic. Firefighters are helping ensure buildings were safe. Some 500 soldiers have been deployed in the Valencia region to deliver water and essential goods to those in need, and more are on the way.

    But so far no military units are in Chiva, where the wave of solidarity among average citizens underscores the dearth of official help. The vibe is one of townsfolk just getting on with it.

    A man weeps inside the Astoria Cinema, which has been transformed into a supply depot. The theatre is filled with piles of water bottles and fruit. People make sandwiches. One group of young men arrive and drop off bottled water before picking up shovels and brooms and joining the fray.

    Just across a square at the town hall, a sign says everyone is allowed to take two bottles of water a day. Volunteers hand out baguette sandwiches.

    Cleaning out the bakery that has been in her family for five generations, Mar铆a Teresa S谩nchez hopes it can continue, but she is not sure if her 100-year-old oven can be salvaged.

    鈥淐hiva will take a long time to recover from this,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut it is true that we have not felt alone. We are helping each other. And at the end that is really what we embrace, that spirit of being a town that is isolated and nobody has come to help, yet see how we are all out in the street? That is the shining light to this story.鈥

    Medrano reported from Madrid. Associated Press writers Colleen Barry in Milan and Jamey Keaten in Geneva, contributed to this report.

    CTVNews.ca Top Stories

    Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.

    An Ontario woman is facing serious charges after police allege she pretended to be a registered nurse at several Simcoe County facilities, despite being unqualified.

    New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone's all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai for a climate conference last December violated the city's Code of Conduct for Council Members and the Community Charter, the city's ethics commissioner has ruled.

    An Edmonton Police Service officer was caught on camera running over a woman with a marked cruiser last month.

    An appeal has been denied to extend the sentence of an Ontario trucker who killed a woman in his Edmonton hotel room in 2011.

    A landlord from B.C.鈥檚 Lower Mainland who evicted a longtime tenant only to rent out the same unit months later for more money has been ordered to compensate him $16,480.

    Canada

    • Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is slamming the province's plan to unilaterally remove bike lanes along some of the city's major streets, calling it 'arbitrary' while warning that it could ultimately make congestion worse.

    • An appeal has been denied to extend the sentence of an Ontario trucker who killed a woman in his Edmonton hotel room in 2011.

    • An Edmonton Police Service officer was caught on camera running over a woman with a marked cruiser last month.

    • Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.

    • New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone's all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai for a climate conference last December violated the city's Code of Conduct for Council Members and the Community Charter, the city's ethics commissioner has ruled.

    World

    Politics

    Health

    • An Ontario woman is facing serious charges after police allege she pretended to be a registered nurse at several Simcoe County facilities, despite being unqualified.

    • A measles outbreak has been declared in New Brunswick鈥檚 Zone 3, which includes Fredericton and the upper Saint John River Valley.

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    Business

    Lifestyle

    Sports

    Autos

    Local Spotlight

    A Windsor teen鈥檚 social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.

    Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.

    A Halifax junk remover shares some of his company鈥檚 strangest discoveries.

    When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.

    After 14 years of repairing and selling bicycles out of the garage of her home, a Guelph, Ont. woman鈥檚 efforts have ended 鈥 for now, at least.

    Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.

    Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.

    New Brunswicker Jillea Godin鈥檚 elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.

    A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.

    • New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone's all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai for a climate conference last December violated the city's Code of Conduct for Council Members and the Community Charter, the city's ethics commissioner has ruled.

    • Overwhelmed RCMP officers had their hands full responding to one particularly unruly Halloween gathering in B.C.'s Lower Mainland on Thursday 鈥 with an estimated 300 young people involved in the ruckus.

    • The City of Vancouver says the remaining seven residents of an encampment at a Downtown Eastside park have a week to pack up their belongings and leave, or they must remove their tents each day as the area returns to regular daytime use.

    • Police arrested two people in downtown Toronto Friday afternoon in connection with a stolen vehicle investigation that resulted in a chase, which was captured on video.

    • Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.

    • Drake has released a new music video for his track 'No Face,' and Scarborough residents will likely know exactly where it was filmed.

    • A Calgary councillor wants the city to protect drivers from tow truck companies that are "preying" on drivers on scene of car crashes.

    • A CN train derailed near Beiseker, Alta., on Friday morning.

    • The Calgary Real Estate Board says October home sales were mostly flat compared with last year's levels, but remained around one-quarter higher than long-term trends for the month.

    • EXCLUSIVE

      EXCLUSIVE

      Internal documents show the National Capital Commission struggled to maintain the ice on the Rideau Canal Skateway last winter and took what it called a 'manageable risk' to lower their standards for what qualifies as thick enough ice in order to squeeze a few more skating days into the season.

    • Ottawa paramedics say a child suffered non-life threatening injuries after being struck by a driver on Viewmount Drive Friday afternoon.

    • Ontario Provincial Police are warning of a fraudster asking for money over the phone while claiming to be affiliated with the police.

    • Public transit users in Montreal were faced with service disruptions on two fronts on Friday as part of the REM and the green line on the Metro were shut down.

    • More than 150 cars have been stolen so far this year from the Fairview Pointe-Claire parking lot, making it by far the most popular location for thieves on the Island of Montreal.

    • The office of the registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada was served with a legal notice on Friday by a Quebec civil rights group challenging the high court's steadfast refusal to translate its historic decisions into French.

    • An Edmonton Police Service officer was caught on camera running over a woman with a marked cruiser last month.

    • An appeal has been denied to extend the sentence of an Ontario trucker who killed a woman in his Edmonton hotel room in 2011.

    • A fire early Friday morning spread from a house under construction to two neighbouring homes in Belgravia.

    • Nova Scotia's premier is apologizing after a court criticized his government for what it calls a flawed, discriminatory and unfair process that led to two women being rejected for coverage of out-of-province treatments.

    • Montreal-based company Westcliff Management, a privately owned real estate development and management company, officially own Dieppe鈥檚 Champlain Place Mall as of Halloween.

    • The RCMP in Yarmouth, N.S., is investigating the sudden deaths of two people known to each other.

    • Manitoba RCMP are looking for more information after the remains of an infant were identified.

    • Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is not making any commitments on possible new municipal taxes in Winnipeg.

    • A 25-year-old man has been charged with multiple offences after he allegedly shot another man with a shotgun during a dispute at a North End home last month.

    • Swift Current RCMP are looking for two men after a 'serious assault' in the city early Tuesday morning.

    • SaskPower has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating workplace safety rules, but the victim won't receive any of the money.

    • Those who heat their homes with electricity in Saskatchewan will continue to see a 60 per cent reduction on their federal carbon tax charge, according to SaskPower.

    • Erick Buhr, the man accused of killing his grandmother, Viola Erb, is now representing himself at his second degree murder trial.

    • Waterloo Regional Police are putting out a stern reminder about fireworks safety after a concerning display in Breslau.

    • Three people have been transported to hospital, one with life-threatening injuries, after a crash on Trussler Road in North Dumfries Township Friday afternoon.

    • SaskPower has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating workplace safety rules, but the victim won't receive any of the money.

    • A newly elected Saskatchewan Party government got back to work on Thursday, with returning and new government members meeting for the first time.

    • The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) says its staff at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary have seized a significant amount of contraband and unauthorized items from the Prince Albert-based facility.

    • With the surging number of homeless encampments in Ontario cities, Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre has joined other big city mayors in asking the province to back them up when they try and prohibit encampments.

    • Two males, including one young offender, were arrested Thursday evening after a shooting at a grocery store on Notre Dame Avenue in Sudbury.

    • Police in northern Ontario say a razor blade was found in a child's candy on Halloween night.

    • Already sentenced to spend a life in prison for committing two London murders, William McDonald, 34, continued to add to his already lengthy criminal record while behind bars at Collins Bay Penitentiary.

    • Since August 2023, detectives from the Niagara Regional Police Service have been investigating an allegation of sexual assault by a man against a 15-year-old girl.

    • Nine people have been certified as candidates to fill the vacant seat on Kincardine council, following the untimely passing of Doug Kennedy.

    • An Ontario woman is facing serious charges after police allege she pretended to be a registered nurse at several Simcoe County facilities, despite being unqualified.

    • One man has been charged following a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 400 that caused traffic backups for hours on Thursday.

    • Michael L鈥橢nfant, accused of violent sexual assaults, was granted bail on Friday with conditions, including to not have contact with females.

    • A Windsor man is on trial for attempting to join a terrorist organization known as the Atomwaffen Division (AWD).

    • BREAKING

      BREAKING

      Windsor police have charged a 25-year-old man with first-degree murder in the death of a 69-year-old man in south-central Windsor.

    • As Remembrance Day draws near, commemorative decorative crosswalks to honour Canadian veterans and military members are being installed in several southwestern Ontario communities ahead of Nov. 11.

    • Police on southern Vancouver Island are issuing a warning about the dangers of deer rutting season after a dog was gored to death by a buck earlier this week.

    • A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted an order to establish a buffer zone around one of the province's largest Sikh temples this Saturday in advance of expected confrontations between protesters and Indian consular officials.

    • Concerns are growing about British Columbia鈥檚 local economy as the possibility of another province-wide labour disruption at ports looms.

    • More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.

    • Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.

    • A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.

    • As overnight temperatures continue to dip below freezing, the City of Lethbridge has launched its second annual snow route season ahead of winter.

    • The University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics Annual Safe Ride Home campaign is making a return this year, but with a new name.

    • A three goal outburst in the first period of Wednesday night鈥檚 game against the Swift Current Broncos was all the Hurricanes need on their way to 3-1 win at home against the Swift Current Broncos.

    • More than half of Ontario's 480 wildfires last summer were in northeastern Ontario, according to new data from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

    • A 40-year-old suspect has been charged with sexual assault following an incident Wednesday in Sault Ste. Marie.

    • Juanita Migwans 鈥 or 'Winnie,' as her family calls her 鈥 of M'Chigeeng First Nation has been missing for almost a month.

    N.L.

    Shopping Trends

    The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at 麻豆影视. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop.聽Read about us.

    Stay Connected
    Follow 麻豆影视