Search operations resumed Monday in Spain, six days after the terrible floods which left at least 217 dead, the authorities fearing the discovery of new victims, notably in the parking lot of a shopping center in the suburbs of Valencia.
The day after a chaotic day, during which an angry crowd greeted with insults and mud throwing the visit of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI to one of the localities most affected by the floods, the priority remains the location of the missing.
Monday morning, the Spanish meteorological agency (Aemet) assured that the “meteorological crisis” situation had ended in the Valencia region. On the other hand, it placed Barcelona and its metropolitan area, 350 kilometers further north, on red alert, where torrential rains began to fall.
In the greater Barcelona area, commuter train traffic was suspended and a crisis committee established at Barcelona-El Prat international airport, where around fifteen flights were diverted, according to the authorities.
According to a latest report, at least 217 people died in the floods that occurred last week: 213 in the Valencia region alone, three in Castile-la-Mancha and one in Andalusia.
But the final number of victims could be higher: an unspecified number of residents are still missing and many underground car parks, completely flooded, have not yet been fully inspected.
– “It can be terrible” –
The authorities are particularly concerned about the situation of the underground parking lot in Bonaire, a vast shopping center in Aldaia, a town of 31,000 inhabitants in the suburbs of Valencia. With a capacity of 5,700 places, almost half of which are in the basement, the latter is completely flooded.
“The shopping center is devastated in its upper part. And at the bottom it is a terrible unknown. We are not sure what we will find,” Aldaia Mayor Guillermo Lujan told public television TVE. “We want to be careful” but “it can be terrible.”
In recent days, the personnel of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), which intervenes during natural disasters, have installed numerous pumps to begin to evacuate the water. Divers have managed to penetrate the underground, without spotting any bodies so far.
In the localities most affected by the floods, anger and distress still prevail, six days after the tragedy. Many streets remain clogged with piles of cars, mud and trash, and homes without telephones or electricity.
“I was born here, and I lost everything,” Teresa Gisbert, a resident of Sedavi, another disaster-stricken town in the suburbs of Valencia, told AFP.
In his house, a meter-long dark line of sludge is visible where the water has penetrated. “They told us ‘rain alert’ but they should have told us about ‘flood’,” laments this 62-year-old woman.
– “Error” –
On Sunday, this feeling of helplessness turned into a flood of anger when King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia went with Pedro Sánchez and the conservative president of the Valencia region Carlos Mazón to Paiporta, a municipality considered to be the epicenter of tragedy.
“Assassins! Assassins!” shouted exasperated residents. Some people threw mud and various objects at the procession, while insults were poured out against the Prime Minister and Mr. Mazón, who were quickly evacuated by the security services.
In extreme tension, the sovereigns received mud on their faces and clothes, an episode undoubtedly without precedent in the history of the Spanish monarchy. Visibly moved, but unmoved, they stayed for an hour to talk to residents before leaving.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente admitted on television that this trip had perhaps not been organized at the best time, admitting “a possible error”.
Due to the poor state of the roads and still rainy weather, the authorities maintained traffic restrictions on several roads in the Valencia region on Monday, where schools will remain closed all day.
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