A pair of sisters from west Dorset who live in Valencia have been providing aid to others after disastrous flooding in the area.
More than two weeks ago, devastating floods tore through Valencia, Spain, causing massive damage and taking more than 200 lives.
Sisters Zoe, aged 31 and Georgia Wilkes, aged 29, relocated to Valencia from Lyme Regis around six years ago.
They told the News they've been shocked by what they've seen in the aftermath of the disaster; including bodies, hundreds of cars piled on top of each other and a resident trapped on his terrace.
Zoe, a travel writer, and Georgia, an English tutor, live together in the city centre, which was mostly untouched by the flooding.
However, after seeing the damage and the poor government response, they decided to "take matters into their own hands" to help.
The pair gathered a group of friends; including internationals from England, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Argentina, France, and more. They go directly to the areas affected to help however they can.
Zoe said: "On our first day, armed with just a few shovels, water, and food, we were shocked to enter communities and see the devastation was far worse than we could have expected.
"Hundreds of cars were piled on top of each other as far as the eye could see, with no idea of how many bodies were trapped inside.
"At this point, we realised the scale of this was beyond what we had thought or seen reported."
The group now has more than 50 members and makes daily excursions, often to areas where the water has become toxic, requiring PPE.
They were named the 'Pitbull Volunteer Group' by a Spanish man who saw how fast they were able to deliver supplies, and the name has stuck.
She added: "On day five, some towns had still yet to receive emergency help; volunteers walking 10 kilometres in from the city centre were the only ones that were coming to help.
"We met a man who had been trapped on his terrace for three days with his elderly mother, with no food, power, or liquids.
"He was visibly traumatised - he still couldn’t sleep 15 days in - believing for every second of those three days that no one was going to come for them and they were going to die there on that terrace.
"Now, we are starting to get to know local residents, and they are passing our details on to their friends so that each day we have new deliveries to make.
"Yesterday, for example, we were able to send a medical team to a man with infected cuts on his leg - the mud and water in the towns are now full of harmful bacteria - and deliver an air fryer to a man who has lost everything and has no way to cook.
"Every day, this group of volunteers risk their health to visit these towns, walking ten kilometres each way and then doing hours and hours of physical labour to aid in the clean-up with only our own makeshift PPE.
"They’ve seen traumatising sights: body bags, people crying, and missing person searches, something which emergency services are trained to deal with, not the average citizen."
Zoe and Georgia's group are currently helping to deliver supplies and help people clean up their homes, garages and streets.
On November 9 the group delivered a birthday cake to an eight-year-old girl whose family lost everything in the flooding.
If you would like to support Zoe and Georgia's group's efforts, you can donate to a go-fund-me at gofundme.com/f/valencia-flood-disaster-fund.
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