Joshua Parfitt
A BRITISH father-of-two has described the moment he ‘fled for his families’ life’ after flash floods hit his home outside Dolores, in Alicante, at 5am on Friday morning.
Grant Steele, 54, had put his two 10-year-old twins to bed at 11.30 on Thursday night when ‘all was calm’.
But at 5am the Aberdeenshire man was rocked awake as torrential rains hitting the entire Costa Blanca sent floodwaters 4ft-deep raging through his home in the picturesque Spanish countryside.
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“I can’t tell you how terrifying it was,” Steele told the Olive Press.
“There was absolutely no flood warning on Thursday night.
“But I was shocked awake by this unholy racket as a maelstrom of lightning and rain hit our house in the campo.
“My palm trees were going sideways at right angles and our garden was four feet deep in floodwater.
“I was beside myself.
“I waded out to our van with only my phone on me, I left everything behind including my wallet.
“The electric gate wouldn’t budge under the water so I had to get an alan key to force it open.
“That alone took 20 minutes.”
“I just barely got the kids out in time and we very nearly got flooded away.
“On the road we were this close to sliding sideways into a ditch and under six feet of water.
“Eventually I got to a friends’ house at 6.30am, before the floodwaters started to creep into his house too.
“Within 20 minutes he was under water.
“I just want it all to go away.”
Steele added he has visited his house, which he’s owned for a year while the twins are at a local school, and the floods have left it in ‘ruins’.
“We’re in a great place with a great view. But we’re in the middle of a flood plain,” Steele said.
“I just can’t believe it. How can a cloud have all that water?”
Steele has sought refuge at another friends’ house with the children, while wife Catherine is in the UK.
It comes as six people have now died following the worst September storms for decades.
READ MORE:
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