Simon Wade
A BRITISH couple who lost ‘everything’ in their Vega Baja villa during last month’s devastating floods are STILL in limbo as insurance assessors are yet to evaluate their claims.
Ruined furniture, clothes, treasured mementos and children’s toys piled high on the Harighi family’s patio is all that remains of the house they spent 10 years renovating and decorating.
Husband Harry, 46, has taken leave from his Gosport-based job in the UK as he aids his family’s recovery, while wife Hannah, 43, ‘cannot work’ as she takes care of the two children whose school is still closed.
But despite their financial constraints, not even municipal emergency funding up to €4,500 has materialised to help them begin the painful process of starting over again as San Fulgencio Town Hall ‘still doesn’t fully understand the forms’, they claim.
“Our whole lives are just in limbo,” Hannah Harighi, told the Olive Press.
“Our dream of a place in the sun for us and the kids is now just a never-ending nightmare.”
While the family, including dog Skip, has been able to stay with friends nearby, the situation is so bad they are considering a move back to the UK until vital payouts can help them get back on their feet.
“Everything we worked for, to provide a beautiful and happy home for our family, has been snatched from us,” an interim GoFundMe fundraiser to help the Harighis reads.
“It will probably take months for the government insurance to come to fruition, and in the meantime we must pay the mortgage and utilities on an uninhabitable property.
“We must also begin the soul destroying task of itemising all of our belongings for the insurance.
“To add more anguish, neither my husband or I are able to work whilst we are trying to sort everything out.”
It comes after the family described ‘running for their lives’ as the family home was destroyed in a single weekend following the catastrophic flood unleashed on Saturday, September 14.
The family made it to higher ground at the local community centre just in time before their San Fulgencio villa was ‘smashed to pieces’, after the nearby Segura river burst its banks.
“We’ve had gota frias before, and rainwater had only just covered our garden – but we still kept an eye on the storms, just in case,” Hannah told the Olive Press.
“When we got up at 9.30am, we had to run to get the children because floodwater had already got in.
“By 10.30am, we were ankle deep in muddy sludge, and we decided it was time to go.
“It was like a scene from a disaster movie – it was apocalyptic chaos.
“We’d spent 10 years renovating the place, it was beautiful, and now it’s all gone.”
If you’d like to help the Harighi’s rebuild their lives by donating something towards new furniture or toys for the children, please click here.
READ MORE: Roman map shows flood-hit regions of the Costa Blanca were part of the Med just 2,000 years ago
READ MORE: Flood victims in the Vega Baja can apply for up to €4,500 emergency aid – here’s the form
