(Valencia) The Spanish government announced on Saturday the sending of 10,000 additional soldiers and police officers to the south-east of Spain to help the victims and help search for the missing, four days after the tragic floods which left at least 211 dead.
Posted at 8:04 a.m.
Updated at 9:54 a.m.
Pink SULLEIRO
Agence France-Presse
In total, “5,000 more soldiers” will be deployed on the ground, including 4,000 “today” and 1,000 “tomorrow morning,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced in a statement from the Moncloa Palace, his official residence.
This figure brings to 7,500 the number of soldiers mobilized in the disaster areas, i.e. the “largest deployment of armed forces ever carried out in Spain in peacetime”, insisted the head of government.
To these soldiers will be added some 5,000 additional police and gendarmes, responsible for supporting their 5,000 colleagues already on the ground, according to Mr. Sánchez. Reinforcements eagerly awaited in certain localities still facing a chaotic situation.
The bad weather “caused the greatest natural disaster in the recent history of our country”, insisted the Prime Minister, ensuring that the toll from the floods was now “211 dead”.
“There will be more deaths”
PHOTO ALBERTO SAIZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A car ended up under a bridge after flooding in the suburbs of Valencia, Spain, November 2, 2024.
The latest figures from the emergency services, given on Friday evening, showed at least 207 victims, including 204 in the Valencia region, the most affected, two other people having died in Castile-la-Mancha and one in Andalusia.
The authorities, however, indicated that this toll could rise, with the discovery of potential victims, particularly in the carcasses of cars which still litter the streets and parking lots of the most affected areas, amid debris and uprooted trees.
“It is probable […] that there will be more deaths,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Friday on the Antena 3 television channel, refusing to give the number of missing people, considered still too fluctuating and imprecise.
According to the government, the priority of soldiers and police remains the search for the missing and the restoration of roads and infrastructure, in order to allow the “delivery” of aid and the reestablishment of “essential services”.
PHOTO MANU FERNANDEZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Emergency services workers carry out work in a flood-affected area in Valencia, November 2, 2024.
They will also have to put an end to acts of looting reported several times in recent days, for which 82 people were arrested, according to the executive.
According to the Spanish meteorological agency (Aemet), the equivalent of a year’s worth of precipitation fell overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in certain municipalities. These torrential rains formed torrents of mud, which destroyed bridges, ravaged houses and swept away thousands of vehicles.
According to the executive, more than 2,000 damaged cars and trucks have already been removed. Electricity has also been restored to 94% of residents who had been deprived of it.
“Problems and deficiencies”
“I am aware that the response given is not sufficient and that there are problems and shortcomings”, but “the time will come to analyze” possible “negligences”, insisted Pedro Sánchez, while the lack of responsiveness of the authorities is the subject of strong criticism.
The regional government of Valencia is notably accused of having sent a telephone alert message to residents very late on Tuesday, even though Aemet had placed the region on “red alert” in the morning.
In Chiva, about forty kilometers from Valencia, the clearing continued on Saturday morning in an atmosphere of desolation, according to an AFP journalist. In this town of 17,000 inhabitants, no soldiers, but numerous gendarmes, responsible for patrolling the town where dozens of houses were completely destroyed.
PHOTO MANU FERNANDEZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
People clean a street in an area affected by flooding in Valencia, November 2, 2024.
“There is nothing left,” lamented Mario Silvestre, 86, saying he was “resigned” to the sight of the damage. “Politicians promise a lot, but help only arrives when it arrives.”
In this dismal panorama, the outpourings of solidarity continued on Saturday, notably in Valencia, where thousands of people gathered at dawn to go on foot to neighboring towns, equipped with shovels and brooms.
On Friday, the number of volunteers was such that the authorities called on residents to stay at home and banned traffic on certain roads to prevent the roads used by emergency services from being congested.
