No power, no water, no hope: inside Europe’s largest shanty town

Freezing weather from Storm Filomena, and Spain's third wave of Covid, compound dire situation in settlement outside Madrid

Despite the daily trials her family has to endure - a pandemic, three months with no electricity and now days without running water since Storm Filomena froze the pipes and left Madrid under a lingering duvet of snow - Sara Benayad has not forgotten the importance of hospitality.

She would welcome the powers-that-be to join her in the novel ritual into which the absence of water has forced her. Every night before bed, Benayad fills saucepans and buckets with snow that must be melted on the gas stove the next morning so there is water for washing and for the dishes.