Arganda del Rey has dawned turned into a mud and hail quagmire. Cut streets, flooded shops , dragged cars, cuts on the roads ... The landscape after the brutal storm last night is bleak.

The Argandeños have woken up in dismay and disbelief, contemplating the effects of the flood, which miraculously caused no fatality . "'My mother, my mother! How is this!" Was the most repeated phrase this morning.

The rains left 46 liters per square meter in Arganda last night in just one hour and 22 liters in 10 minutes. "He gave me an anxiety attack . I was going down a flood that was dragging the containers and the cars, which was like paper. I felt panic. I am 55 years old and I had never seen a storm like this in my life. It was not hail, they were stones, "explained Mercedes, a local neighbor.

The streets of La Misericordia, Juan de la Cierva and La Real ended up becoming a true flood that dragged everything in its path. "I was walking and the current took me . The water reached my chest. I suffered hypothermia and ended up in the hospital," says Floren Emanuel Ihovar, satisfied because he managed to get his girlfriend to take refuge in the portal of his house.

Francisco Pérez, who runs the Lampis bar, managed to save his place with a wooden board and that the water did not enter the premises. "I started to hold the water with the board . If it gets in, it breaks the glass and takes everything ahead," he says, while drying chairs and tables and trying to tidy up the premises.

Francisco was lucky. Its restaurant is located far below the village. The premises located above suffered more strongly the irruption of water and hail.

Buckets and wheelbarrows

Álex Ungu, 21, was attending the counter of the photo studio where he worked, when he was caught by the flood. He saved the life of a miracle, because he managed to climb a spiral staircase. "The water began to sneak up at full speed. A boy swam in and got on the counter. We climbed the ladder. Hail reached my neck," he says visibly affected.

Ungu is part of the human chain that has been organized on the premises to take out the hail that entered the photo studio. They have been like that since yesterday at 8 pm and still continue. The neighbors are passing the buckets and deposit them in a wheelbarrow, which one of them is throwing in the street.

Human chain to take out hail. Photo: ANGEL NAVARRETE

-And what we have left! There is still a truck to pick up! - exclaims Nacho, who unloads trucks loaded with ice on the street.

-Look, it looks like a mojito! - one of them jokes.

-But, do you have no mop to get water, fuck? - complains another.

-Careful, do not step on the balls that are dangerous! - another of the volunteers shrieks.

The solidarity extended immediately by the municipality and all the neighbors began to lend a hand and shrink water. The village market was also flooded with hail and they were cleaning it all night.

Firefighters also had to be used thoroughly and made 169 interventions in the Community and another 150, in Madrid capital. Emergency Service 112 received a total of 1,499 incidents .

There are still roads such as the M-220, which continue to be cut and the M-40 also has a lane cut in direction at kilometer 30. Metro line 9 is still interrupted between Arganda del Rey and La Poveda.

Hospitals also affected

In addition, several hospitals in the Community were affected by the storm, especially those in the Southeast, in Arganda, and in La Paz , although there have also been incidents in Ramón and Cajal, in Getafe and in Alcalá de Henares, as reported by sources of the Ministry of Health.

The most affected municipalities in Madrid were Tielmes (60 liters per square meter) and Arganda del Rey (46), and also Valdemoro, Pinto, Rivas, Getafe and Fuenlabrada.

Gradually, citizens are approaching the office that has opened the City of Arganda to attend to those affected. There they have to fill out a form to report their damage.

At the entrance of the Consistory, Mercedes is: "All the ice has risen through the toilet bowl. We have removed the water as we could. I am attacked by nerves."

Mercedes comments on the disaster with other neighbors and shares the videos of the storm. Everyone has an adventure to tell and they thank for not having to regret greater evils.

An operator collects hail. ANGEL NAVARRETE

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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