Worst Fear Comes True
21 December 2010
I always had a fear of water growing up as I nearly drowned at the age of 9 and had to be held upside down..coughing and spluttering water out..then went on to be violently sick with the shock.
When I moved to Spain in 2009 slowly I was starting to gain more confidence with swimming in the pool daily.
The place where I crossed was Rio Seco my daily route to and from Nerja from my house in the campo. It was crossed daily by myself and many others. On the day it happened I had took the children to school at 8.45 and went to the gym till around 12.45. It was very heavy rain and the electricity had gone out at the gym with the storm. I decided it would be a good idea to get home ASAP as I lived in the campo and had to cross what was usually a very small amount of water.
When I got to this bit the water was raised quite high..and to be honest it did go through my head not to cross..but I never trusted my gut feeling and as I had a 4×4 thought I could pass..so I attempted the crossing..I got stuck..and not even two minutes later the Protection Civil ( My Guardian Angels) stopped in a white van as they were checking the water levels due to the storm..my Spanish wasn’t great and all I could do was shout for help..the first thing they did was take the photo above..then they got a rope and one of them started to Wade in towards me with the other tying the rope around his waist..the water was already coming in the car and as my gym bag was on the floor with my mobile phone in..that was water damaged straight away..after just a couple of steps towards me..my car got swung around with the current and started going backwards down the riverbed..the car was filling up fast..in the meantime the Protection Civil got back in their van and they started following me down the road track..stopping every so often as they couldn’t see between the bamboo reefs..the car was banging against the rocks and the bamboo reefs were hitting of both sides!! and I was trying to stop the car by steering into the big rocks..I really thought my time was up and my life was flashing before my eyes.. my children..my family..I seen my whole life in what I can only describe as a very fast video clip..I was so scared and didn’t think I was going to make it out..
Eventually around 300metres downstream I managed to steer into a big Rock..and by then the fire brigade and Guardia had arrived..and started shouting instructions to me..while two of them was coming towards me supported by ropes..then we couldn’t get the door open due to the fast current..and I still had weights on my ankles from being in the gym..still to this day I don’t remember if I got out through the window or the door..I just remember we fell in water and one of the guys put me on his back and we got pulled to safety.. then they took this photo with the Protection Civil..my two Guardian Angels who had stopped and had followed me from the start..before wrapping me in blankets and then took me to get my children from school..and took me home up through the mountains.I was in shock but so glad to be alive! When we got back to the house, there was no electricity/Internet due to the storm and my mobile was water damaged so I couldn’t contact anyone.
I never slept that night, and looking back..think I was still in shock..the next day I had to walk miles over the hills into Nerja in torrential rain..I went to the gym to see if my friend who could speak Fluent Spanish was there to help me translate at the police station and also purchase a mobile along with Xmas food shopping as it was just a few days till Christmas Day. Luckily she was there and helped me so much with everything (another guardian angel)
My Insurance put it down to:
“A Act of God”
Maybe It Was/ What Happened Next?
Everything Changed/ I Changed
I will be continuing with this blog so if you are interested keep your eyes open for the next part✨
Thank You if you took the time to read this to the end🙏
Love & Freedom
Jackie x
