Many of our readers may have read the terrifying news of what is happening in the South East of Spain, particularly in the Valencia area where a natural disaster called DANA (Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos) has caused devastating flash floods. Entire villages have been washed away, hundreds of people are dead, and thousands are still missing.
The Valencian Community is one of the strongest jiu-jitsu hubs in the European country and many gyms, athletes, and practitioners were affected by the tragedy. Among them was João Luiz Barreto a black belt, grappling entrepreneur, creator of the biggest jiu-jitsu tournament circuit in the Iberian Peninsula, the Spain BJJ Tour, and co-owner of a local jiu-jitsu academy (Elite BJJ) who moved to the Southern European country back in 2014 and has been living there ever since.
BJJ Heroes was able to contact Mr. Barreto after a 48-hour absence due to electricity & internet connection failure in his area, to learn of his whereabouts. His account of the past couple of days was far worse than we imagined.
“Sometimes reality surpasses fiction,” João told us, “this last Tuesday we were on alert for heavy rains, every year we have heavy rain here in our region, it’s called DANA before they called it ‘Gota Fria’. That day it only rained a little early in the morning and the rest of the day the sky was grey but without a drop of water falling, so we were all leading our normal lives (…) I was on my way to the gym with my student Youssef, when suddenly we saw a traffic jam and had to stop on a bridge. While stopped (…) Youssef warned me that water was coming, and when I looked it looked as if the whole sea was coming our way. I didn’t think twice, we took what we could, left the car, and started running“.
Barreto’s quick thinking likely saved his life, sadly many weren’t able to see the gigantic body of water & mud coming. “For a better understanding of the situation, the river here is practically dry all year round, so a wave coming was far removed from people’s minds. We warned the cars in front that the river was coming and they had to abandon the vehicles. Unfortunately, the majority didn’t pay much attention because they couldn’t see what we saw coming from behind. Most of these people took a long time to get out of their cars, the whole thing took less than 5 minutes. We had to react quickly, we went up the side of the road and I clung to the fence. A guy saw me and told me to calm down but when I pointed to the water he started climbing as well, many did. Youssef and I helped many folks climb, but others didn’t, and when they saw it was serious they tried but in a matter of minutes it became impossible due to the force of the water current. We could no longer do anything.”
With the assistance of Google Maps, Barreto and his student were able to look for higher ground in the area to pass through to their side of the city, while also climbing through some people’s properties to get home. He tried to reach out to his academy’s staff as the gym was close to the flooded area, but he got no response. He was informed at a later date that the gym had also been overrun by the river, but that everyone was safe. “Leo and Filipe were able to help the students out, with water already at waist level“, Joao commented.
Barreto co-owns the Elite Jiu-Jitsu facility in Torrente, Valencia. A 400m2 gym he helped open only 1 year ago, where coaches Filipe Ciabotti, Steven Reis, and Stephanie Deschuyteneer teach. The flood destroyed nearly everything: “All of the mats, offices, merchandise, etc. Everything but the structure which remained intact“. Said the Brazilian entrepreneur, “but we were not the only BJJ gym affected, I know that at least Professor Stanly Barbosa of Club de Lucha in Massanassa and another gym in Paiporta were also greatly affected. Both in villages by the river bed.”
Another one of Barreto’s endeavors that fell apart was the European Cup, the Spain BJJ Tour end-of-season tournament, set in Valencia. “Everything happened during the week of our biggest event. It is the tournament in which we end the season, we had already prepared everything, the prizes, the medals, the trophies, national and international tickets, hotels, insurance, bank fees, customs fees, Smoothcomp, internet, ambulance, all the graphics, the t-shirts, even the water bottles we had already bought – which we have now donated to the Massanassa community – the referees and coordinators’ uniforms were in my car. I spent almost 2 days without the phone working or water at home, today was when we returned to some stability“.
Regarding the return of the Spain BJJ Tour events, the date set for the European Cup’s reschedule is already set. It will be on the 23 & 24th of November. An ambitious and brave decision by Barreto. “Firstly, I wanted to say that we created a campaign to collect food for the next event. The audience will have to bring 1kg of food to attend. Everything raised will be donated to the families affected by DANA here.”
In these incredibly stressful times for Mr. Barreto and his organization, he left a message to the Spanish grappling community. “I work hard for jiu-jitsu and believe we have had an important role in the development of this sport in this country, alongside coaches and other organizations. There is a little bit of our work in many of today’s students and competitors and we would like to emphasize how we truly need your support right now. Anything is appreciated. Sign up for our event if you can, or keep your registration. Even a simple word of support will go a long way. Also, please be patient with the messages, we will answer them all in due time. Any help counts right now.”
The devastation in the area is heartbreaking and the suffering is unimaginable. Although social media has shown how the Spanish people have united to help save those still alive, much is still to do and we hope to bring awareness to the issue to some of our readers. If you feel the desire to help in any way there are trusted institutions to reach out to. Many people & animal shelters are in need as well as family-run businesses. Mr. Barreto has also started a GoFundMe for his gym which you can see by visiting Elite BJJ’s Instagram page here.
