Young man sent a message before disappearing

“The house collapsed around 4 am. The last message that Joyce’s parents received on his cell phone was that the water was taking her. Then they lost the signal,” he told AFP Louis Deppe, 62, a family friend and leader of the volunteer group who participates in the searches.

The river has lost strength, but, on its banks, the scenario is of destruction. As if nature had been inspired by a work of Salvador Dalí, on the right bank of the river, the body of a cow is hanging on a tree, with its head attached between the branches. Beside it is a destroyed pickup truck with the wheels up.

Scattered among the rubble, dozens of dead fish dragged by the current begin to decompose. The deafening noise of helicopter propellers in search of bodies echoes through the area from time to time, while rescue teams travel the river in small boats.

Members of the state security forces searched on foot excerpts from the empty river bed. Branches of tree and destroyed vehicles are gradually removed from the region.

Bodies

Tina Hambly, 55, is the mother of Joyce’s best friend and roommate. She walks through the rubble carrying a kayak row, with which she moves in branches and destroyed objects, hoping to find some sign of life.