'Tell the world we have nothing': Spain's flood survivors rail against government as calls for protests grow | World News

Survivors of the devastating floods in Spain told Sky News they were lucky to be alive.

But they are angry that they are not getting more support from the government, emergency services or the military.

They say they felt forgotten and were left without electricity, food and water, despite living just a short drive from one of the country's largest cities Spain.

Instead, we saw thousands of volunteers help clean up some of the devastated cities, while others had to rely on their own residents to deal with the extraordinary devastation.

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“Tell the world we have nothing,” a man says as we talk in the town of Albal. There are increasing calls for a nationwide protest against the authorities' supposedly slow response.

But there are also fascinating stories of survival. In Catarroja we meet Arkait Iniguez, who returned from his high school in Valencia because of a severe weather warning.

“At first I was up to my knees in water,” he says. He wanted to check on his grandmother, who lived nearby, but when he reached her house the water rushed so fast that it swept him away.

“The stream was so fast and the level was rising. I grabbed the post of a traffic sign so I wouldn't be taken away. Some neighbors tried to help me – they threw me a rope but it broke.”

“I was there for 20 minutes. Something hit me – I think it was a car, but I'm not sure. And then the electricity got weaker and I was able to jump onto a car.”

Mr. Iniguez was there for hours until he was able to get through the water to safety.

It's a horrifying story and the deep cuts on his back are a testament to what happened.

He said: “I thought I might die, but I also thought, 'It shouldn't end like this'.”

As we speak, the street is being washed down by residents who have been working tirelessly since morning. “It’s the best street in the city,” says one man. Civic pride, it seems, can survive anything.

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In this region we have seen thousands and thousands of people volunteering their time to make these cities somewhat functional again. We saw huge, snaking lines of people with brooms and brushes, an army of helpers.

What we didn't see was much of the actual army.

Walking through the town of Aldaia, flooded with mud and rubble, work was carried out hectically and decisively. But it’s all done by volunteers – many of them young people in their late teens or early 20s.

We didn't see much of the emergency services either.

No doubt they are overused – and no one can be fully prepared for a catastrophe on this level, but the fact is that when you travel through these beleaguered, battered cities you get the impression that all the work is being done by amateurs. while the skilled workers are largely absent.

Reconstruction will be a huge task. The physical scars of these floods will last for many years, as will the emotional ones.

We first see Father Francisco comforting people on the street. His shirt is splattered with mud.

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No, he says, this catastrophe didn't shake his faith, but rather his feelings. He is close to tears as we speak – exhausted, like his parishioners.

“I would say the main word is shock. We are in shock and you can see that reality has surpassed fiction. This is a horror film, but more than that.”

“This natural disaster is worse than a horror movie.”