I've been at port aventura for the last few days staying onsite at hotel el paso.
Yesterday at around 6:30pm local time there was a flash flood caused by sudden massive rain fall. This flooded the lower blocks (iguana, jaguar and others I'm sure) as well as the reception.
Things started as a pool of water formed at our rear door (ground floor, no balcony but a little outdoor area). As this grew deeper the water began to flow through the cracks and into the room.
Shortly after this we noticed that water was coming in through the front door on the room. It was at this point we contacted the hotel reception via phone. They told us that we should put a towel in front of the doors and they would send a cleaning lady. We insisted that it was too bad for that and they needed to do something. They said they would send someone.
For some time then we stayed put and moved items off the floor. We were leaving the next day so was mostly packed, we just threw a last few bits in the bag.
Things only declined from there, we saw the water was rising further and was now coming over the lower hinge of the door. Then the power was lost, and we thought it best to get out and get to a higher point.
We had not heard / seen any member of staff since our phone call to them.
We decided to open the door and get out. What we didn't realise was the sheer amount of water the door was holding back. As we pulled the handle the door burst open with a huge wave behind it. This wave upended all of the furniture in the room (see photo).
We were now up to our knees at least in water. With more water rushing in we started wading towards the exit. It only became deeper.
Once out of the building we really saw what was happening. There were huge torrents of water falling down the steps from the pool area and restaurant. We wouldn't have been able to climb them due to the amount of water, and the lower area was filling quickly. It was now up to our hips (I'm about 6ft for reference).
There is a staircase that runs alongside reception building up to the bar so we took that.
We made it out the water and took a seat inside the bar which was still operating as normal.
That's the story, and at this point I'd like to say that of course I understand that the hotel is not at fault for any of the flooding.
What the hotel are at fault for though is their reaction.
a). Nobody came to get people from their rooms. Leaving some people trapped in flooded rooms. Others to wade through extremely deep water.
b). Staff were rude when we asked what were they doing, and even said "get out or I'll throw you out" when we continued to complain (in an irate manor, to be fair)
c). Staff never gave any information to those in the hotel. No staff member came around to announce anything. Communication was very poor
d). There was clearly no contingency plan for emergencies which is shocking when there are so many on site.
e). They continued to charge for basics, and continued to not let a parent take food out of the buffet for children trapped in upper floor rooms of flooded blocks.
Overall there was a disregard for guest safety as staff focused on moving furniture out of reception which was flooding to a higher spot, rather than to help guests get to safety.
Communication after the fact was terrible with no updates or plans. Eventually they did move us to another hotel, but only when we went back into reception to get more information.
From: https://i.imgur.com/YifKUvg.jpeg
From: https://i.imgur.com/hdULh5B.jpeg
