AN ANIMAL shelter in Benimàmet, near Valencia has launched an urgent appeal for foster homes after its premises became flooded during the freak storms hitting the eastern region this week.
Record rainfall reaching up to 300 litres per square metre – 30 centimetres, or a foot – in 12 hours battered the province of Valencia, the north of that of Alicante and parts of the province of Castellón on Wednesday night and Thursday, with inland areas being particularly badly hit.
On the coast, between 100 and 200 litres (10-20 centimetres, or four to eight inches) was recorded between 20.00 on Wednesday and 08.00 on Thursday, although the inland district of the Ribera Alta, the capital of which is Alzira, has declared a state of emergency due to flash floods causing damage to properties and vehicles.
Slightly further north, workers at the Modepran pet rescue centre in the Valencia satellite town of Benimàmet arrived in the morning to find dog pens several inches deep in flood water with the smaller animals almost up to their knees.
Until the water drains away and the pens can be cleaned up, Modepran needs volunteers to foster dogs, as they have nowhere dry to sleep.
The shelter is also appealing for plastic dog beds, pallets, kennels and building material so alternative accommodation safe from possible future storms can be made up – including tarpaulins to stop more water getting in.
“Any help is welcome – these are very difficult times and our animals need us more than ever,” says Modepran.
“We're overwhelmed at the moment.”
The shelter has urged anyone who finds a stray or abandoned animal to take it to one of the other rescue centres in Valencia city or in the nearby town of Paterna for the time being, as Modepran
'cannot cope'.
Some dogs have already been taken, and all of them are out of danger, although several still need somewhere safe to stay.
The shelter's details can be found on Facebook by searching 'Modepran Valencia'.
Above is one of the photographs published on the centre's Facebook site of a flooded-out dog pen.
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