Cookstown man loses car and possessions in devastating floods

A COOKSTOWN man living near Valencia has spoken of the devastation he and his family faced after flash floods struck his village of Guadassuar last week.

Colin Donaldson, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Valencia’s EDEM Business School, lost numerous possessions in the disaster, including his car, which was swept away in what he described as a ‘complete disaster.’

“There had been weather warnings for storms,” Colin recalled. “But that’s nothing out of the ordinary here, so everyone just went about their day.

“My wife rang me around 4pm to say it was going to be bad, so I decided to leave work early.”

Colin’s early departure turned out to be fortunate as weather conditions worsened and traffic began to build up.

“I made it home around 6pm, and aside from a bit of rain, it was calm initially,” he explained.

“By 8pm, though, it was chaos. Rivers had overflown, and our home started to flood. The water was up to my knees.”

“There was simply no way of stopping it, we got the kids up to the second floor of the house and kept them calm.

“There was only so much we could do with such little time to prepare,” he said.

Like many in the area, Colin lost his car to the floodwaters.

“It wasn’t until 9pm, at the peak of the chaos, that we actually received alerts on our mobile phones, but that was obviously far too late.”

Reflecting on the aftermath, Colin said a big part of the problem isn’t the water, but the residue of mud that was left behind.

“I had never seen anything like it,” he explained.

“The mud residue left behind was overwhelming. It took me a full day to clean my house. My wife’s parents were also badly impacted, and we’ve been spending the past few days helping them clean up.

“The streets are currently stacked with damaged cars and destroyed furniture,” he added.

Colin expressed frustration at the lack of government support, stating, “It’s been our village community coming together to help each other, which has been great to see. But we haven’t received any help whatsoever from government officials, and with reports of over 200 people dead following this disaster, that’s quite concerning.”