In Letur, a village recently devastated by a sudden flood caused by extreme rainfall, Esperanza Martínez reflects on the loss of her home. The flood, which produced three deadly waves, has left five residents missing, including a couple swept away while seeking help. Despite minimal rain in Letur, surrounding mountains received torrential downpours, resulting in chaos. While local authorities work on evacuation and recovery, many residents grapple with grief and anger towards politicians for inadequate warnings before the disaster.
Esperanza Martínez stands about twenty meters away from her former home in the old town of Letur, tears welling in her eyes. “I was on my balcony when enormous torrents came crashing down,” she recalls. The mountain stream, which splits the village in two, had transformed in mere seconds into a life-threatening flood last Tuesday. It was 1:30 PM when the first of three waves hit Letur.
Jonathan and Monica, Martínez’s neighbors, were in their home across the street, desperately calling for help as roaring waves engulfed them. “There was no escape for them,” Martínez says. Their house collapsed under the force of the flood that had suddenly surged through the village after heavy rainfall in the surrounding mountains.
Four days later, the bodies of the couple have still not been recovered. Their children, a three-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy, were at school when the disaster struck. They are among five individuals still missing in Letur. Excavators continuously sift through the rubble where their house once stood, removing debris from the old town.
Martínez points to the wrecked home of Dolores, a 92-year-old resident. It has two massive holes in the front and back, through which water surged, taking the elderly woman to her death. Her body, found a kilometer downstream, is the only one that has been recovered and identified so far. The village is littered with mud, tree trunks, and branches that were washed down from the Sierra. Heavy machinery is now removing the debris.
A Surprising Century Flood
A Surprising Century Flood
Letur is situated in the beautiful Sierra del Segura at an elevation of 750 meters. However, as the worst storm of this century battered the regions of Valencia, Murcia, and Castilla-La Mancha last Tuesday, images from Letur rapidly circulated worldwide. Despite minimal rainfall in the village of about a thousand residents, the nearby mountains received up to 200 liters of rain per square meter in a brief time, creating the first massive wave that rushed through Letur before flowing into the Segura River below the town.
The unsuspecting residents struggled to escape the torrent, laden with tree stumps, branches, and debris, which swiftly engulfed their village. It would take hours until Valencia was hit by heavy rainfalls, where over 200 fatalities are now reported.
Compared to that tragedy, the population of Letur fared relatively well. Yet, the terror did not end with the first wave; two more large surges followed, one around 2:30 PM and another later that evening at 8 PM. Although these subsequent waves were less destructive, the residents had no warning for any of them.
Letur’s mayor, Sergio Marín, stands on a bridge overlooking the devastated old town. “We cannot allow anyone back in; after all that happened, the buildings are structurally damaged, and most are likely at risk of collapse,” he states. All residents from the hazardous areas of the old town have been evacuated, with members of the Guardia Civil and army ensuring compliance with Marín’s orders.
The 29-year-old appears exhausted and worn. Two of his closest team members are also missing, presumed drowned in the flood; they unknowingly drove towards the torrent in the town hall’s delivery van.
During these days, everyone thinks of those missing villagers, and the people are traumatized. “We are a small community; everyone knows each other, we know who speaks to whom and who goes to the bakery when,” Marín explains.
The Baby Jesus and Love Letters Saved
The Baby Jesus and Love Letters Saved
For a few minutes and only in the company of a Guardia Civil officer, the residents were allowed to return to their homes at the end of the week. Esperanza Martínez sent her daughter, Lucia, who lives in Alicante, ahead. “I can’t bear it; it breaks my heart, especially since I know I will lose my home forever,” says the 67-year-old.
Her eyes light up when her daughter returns with bags, cradling a large figure of Jesus under her arm. “It was lying in the fireplace under mud,” Lucia explains. Esperanza embraces the Jesus figure lovingly. “He protected me,” she says, having endured significant life tragedies, including the loss of her husband at just 26. Equally important to her is the photo from their honeymoon in Ibiza that her daughter also retrieved.
Lucia also managed to secure a blue notebook filled with muddy letters from Esperanza’s first husband. “He wrote these to me while he was in the military; I will