A restaurant in Silloth has raised more than £1,000 to help people affected by severe flooding in Spain.
More than 200 people have been confirmed dead in the flooding disaster so far after a huge amount of rain fell in just a few hours.
In Valencia, the search continues for bodies inside houses and thousands of wrecked cars strewn in the streets, on major roads, and in canals that channelled last week’s deluge into populated areas.
Lucy and Simon Cottam lived near Valencia for 10 years and now run the Bank of Silloth restaurant in West Cumbria.
In response to the disaster, the pair have launched a raffle for three £50 vouchers for the restaurant which has raised more than £1,000 for families affected by the floods.
“We lived in Spain for over 10 years, and I brought my family up from Spain so on Friday night when I got home from work and saw some of the videos that a friend had posted I just thought ‘I've got to do something to help’” said Lucy.
“I contacted my daughter who also works with me, and we both came up with this idea with all of the proceeds that going to help all the people affected in Valencia and these small towns.
“The whole thing has really taken off in two days and we've raised quite a bit of money already which is amazing – I’m blown away.
“I was talking to my Spanish friend, and she thought I said five hundred and I said ‘no we’ve raised £1,000 and she couldn’t believe it.”
“We've now got to make sure that it really then goes to obviously those who are really affected.
“It's going to be a massive clean up operation, and I think it's going to take a very long time for this to be sorted out.
In Spain, citizens, volunteers and thousands of soldiers and police officers are helping in the gargantuan clean-up effort of mud and debris.
Spain does have autumn storms that can lead to flooding, but the latest ones have produced the deadliest floods in living memory for Spaniards.
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Climate scientists and meteorologists say the immediate cause of the flooding was a cut-off lower-pressure storm system that migrated from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream. It was likely fuelled by a record-hot Mediterranean Sea
The Spanish navy’s Galicia transport vessel arrived in Valencia’s port on Monday with marines, helicopters and trucks loaded with food and water to help with the relief effort, which included 7,500 soldiers and thousands of police reinforcements.
Anybody wishing to buy a raffle ticket to help raise money should visit the restaurant.
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