Judge Dana has amassed records of calls made by Dana victims to Generalitat’s telecare service. The judge incorporated into the case a new report prepared by a Justice Department lawyer that addressed a call from a Cataloja man with a mobility disability. When the service operator contacted the man on the first call, he warned that there was “half a meter of water in the house.” The operator asked him to “climb somewhere high” and told his children he was going to call them. The man says his children may not be able to drive there, and laments that operators “are not answering calls for emergency services. It’s oversaturated.”
The second transcribed audio expresses the telecare worker’s feelings of despair when she loses connection with the disabled man.
–Do you have a cell phone in your hand? Your daughter is going there, okay? To try and get him out of there. I want you to always have your cell phone in your hand, can you hear me? …Lewis, please answer…. Hello, Lewis?
This is the last time the service was able to contact you. The calls below are from the children of a man who lived in a three-story house. The daughter tells her that she is trying to contact her aunt, who lives on the same street. However, this physically disabled man is no longer reachable. “The plug got wet and the phone stopped working.”
The daughter tried to drive to her father’s house, but she didn’t know how far she could go. The following record is an attempt to contact emergency services. “Unfortunately, our systems are unable to process your service request at this time. Please,” the transcript reads.
112 doesn’t answer the phone
The next audio will be: “You have been contacted by 112 Comunidad Valenciana. We are currently experiencing rain and storms. If it is an emergency, please wait. Otherwise, please keep the line open.”
In the seventh recording, the operator contacted the son of a man with mobility issues who was stuck on the road trying to get to his parents’ home in Cataloja to help his father.
–The water has already accumulated so I can’t go in…I don’t know if we’ll be submerged in the water either.
-My mother…
–That’s not possible. My father’s athletic ability has declined, and…
–Yes, I know, Celia told me. That’s it, you know what happens? 112 doesn’t answer… 112 doesn’t answer the phone. tell me.
–And what about firefighters? Well…it looks like the water got all the way to the outlet and stopped working, so he won’t answer the phone anymore. So, do firefighters know, just in case? The thing is…
(…)
– No… No, I am completely disconnected from him.
–Oh, is he alone in the house?
–Of course, he’s alone at home. he is alone So…the last time I spoke to him, he said the water was up to his knees…
–Oh, mother of my life.
–And I told your partner that I already know he’s alone.
–Ah, no, but I didn’t know that much detail. But she knows. She’s doing it, don’t worry.
–I understand, I understand, thank you. But he can’t walk either.
–Oh, mother. This sounds like the end of the world.
–Yeah, that’s crazy.
–It’s the same everywhere in Valencia.
—We have arrived at the rotary. Wow! If the water had already reached us, we could have turned back, the water is rising every minute, I don’t know… If my father was clinging to the wall, I pity him… but he has 66% disability.
–Oh, what a shame, look, look, look, look, look. Oh, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, please.
–I don’t know if I can do it, I don’t know, that’s all…
–Yes, I’m a woman. Maybe now I’m going to tell Celia again, okay?
–Okay, okay, thank you.
–Well, nothing, until now.
–Well, thank you so much.
“I can’t move forward even though I’m at the height of the tower.”
The telecare operator then tried again to contact 112, but was unsuccessful. She called the daughter of the disabled man who was trapped in her home in Cataloha again and asked if emergency services had arrived.
“But…you’ll see,” the daughter answered, “I’m in Valencia and I can’t get through. (…) I don’t know if my father has arrived. He’s alone and I can’t contact him. We’ve tried, but everywhere is already closed to traffic here. The car is flooded and damaged…I’m at the height of the tower, so I can’t go forward.”
The woman said she was disappointed that neither 112, firefighters nor local police responded. “And my husband says that the water level will not stop rising. We…The problem is that if there is already water in the house, he can no longer move forward or walk, because his mobility is significantly reduced…”
“At 112 o’clock, it collapses and I can’t even pick it up.”
Telecare workers continued to attempt emergency contact. On the next phone call, my daughter was still completely hopeless and very nervous. “We don’t know anything. We’re trying to call 112, and they say, ‘This number doesn’t exist’ on 112. They’re overwhelmed and they don’t even answer the phone,” he said.
–Please, he’s alone, and I told you so, his motor skills are diminished. So…
– Understand.
–We don’t have any means of communication, so we don’t know… We just haven’t gotten there yet… We reached the tower, but the water level was rising and it was already dangerous.
–Please be careful too.
-already…
—I received a call from 112, and this time I’ll insist on reporting it, okay?
-already.
-thank you.
–Yes, thank you very much.
-Until now.
“It’s apocalyptic.”
After another unsuccessful call to 112, just after 9:30 p.m., the daughter told the second operator that she was trying to contact her father’s neighbors to inform them of the situation in the area of her father’s home.
— We are… uh… trapped in a tower far away and all the cars are, uh… floating. It’s…well…really apocalyptic. And the thing is, I’m calling… no, no, no, everything is off, right? What to know…
–Yes, yes, that’s right. No, no, the fact is that Silla Road is inaccessible. Because at the height of Massanassa, the valley is overflowing because of Ikea and everything else.
–It’s overflowing. The trajectory of the chair overflowing, it’s okay, it’s okay.
–Yes, the whole thing, I mean the whole chair truck, is overflowing. There are also a lot of A3s that just go through Torrent etc. That’s right, they’re all cut.
-Understood.
–If it’s not because of the flood, maybe it’s because the truck crashed into it, or…
–They’ve been destroying trucks and everything.
–Yes, yes.
–Well, nothing. I imagine that my father was also able to climb the stairs, even though he had to sit with his butt stuck out on the stairs. I don’t know. Let’s wait for everything to work out. we are very worried.
– Well, I know, I know…everyone is the same, but it’s not…the only thing is that at 7 p.m., we already had access to the house that the firefighters said we couldn’t access.
–So you couldn’t access it.
–This was around 7 p.m.
–Yes, I understand.
-In some places, especially along the Ribera River. Here in the south of Rolta, the whole disaster started around 7:30, 8:00, 8:00, but the problem is that the Rivera River has been flooding since this morning.
–From this morning. Okay, okay, nothing. Thank you for the information.
-there is nothing. If I find out anything, I’ll call you.
–Okay, okay, I’ll be waiting, thank you.
–Yes, good night.
No more transcribed audio.
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