The search for possible victims and people who remain missing continues this Thursday in the province of Valencia and Albacete, two days after the largest DANA of this century, which has left at least 155 dead in the Valencian Community, two in Castilla-La Mancha and one in Andalusia.
Paiporta, Alfafar or Utiel-Requenaare some of the most affected Valencian municipalities. Only in Paiporta has the death of 45 peopleamong them six elderly people in the town’s residence and a Civil Guard agent.
The mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, has reported that the bodies of 13 people in the districts of La Torre and Castellar, of which eight have been found in a garage.
The cleaning and search for victims by DANA continues in Valencia
The cleaning tasks, in which firefighters, municipal teams, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and neighbors collaborate, are also progressing. Tons of vehicles, debris and mud must be removed.
The Ministry of Defense has assured that the priority this Thursday is the search for the missing people. “There is 51 special teamscynological, for debris removal work,” he detailed, in reference to the teams with dogs that help find people, whether alive or dead, in the rubble. “Staff from the UME, the Army and the Air Force, They will continue working all day, with whatever means are necessary,” he stressed.
The EMU continues the search
The work of the UME, which has put a thousand troops on the ground, continues in the areas affected by the flood and A worse death toll is not ruled out. Nobody knows what the mud can hide within a radius of hundreds of kilometers. The military plans to continue the search with dogs.
On Wednesday night, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazónhas advanced that, after the last aerial visualization, there would be no one left to rescue on roofs and rooftops, “except for some surprises that should never be ruled out.” However, there are still dozens of missing people.
The Valencian Community has enabled the telephone number 900 365 112 to assist the families of the missing.
Valencia Consortium Firefighters They continue working, mainly by land, in cleaning and clearing debris in the areas affected by DANA. The departure of air means is not expected for this Thursday. Meanwhile, firefighters from the Castellón Consortium have rescued a person in the Vilafamés area and they work to rescue another in one country house in Sant Mateu. They have also mobilized to rescue a person with a vehicle in a Alcalà de Xivert bridge.
For its part, the Civil Guard has carried out 3,400 rescues since Tuesday in the areas affected by DANA in Valencia. The main operational efforts focus on aid and rescue of people.
Populations without electricity or water
Currently, more than 447 people from the populations most affected by the floods are still housed in shelters and 112 has attended, since 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 21 cases of supplying essential supplies, such as drinking water. In some places, shops and supermarkets were looted during the night.
There are still populations without electricity and Iberdrola has already restored the supply to 42,000 of the 155,000 affected and has insisted that it will continue to do so as workers are able to enter the facilities. Furthermore, several sections of the A-3, A-7, V-30 and V-31 and other secondary roads They are still cut.
According to the Civil Guard, it is estimated that there are still some 300 people who remain isolated.
The cold drop suffered by the Valencian Community is the worst of this 21st century, comparable to those experienced in 1987 and in 1982that of the “Pantanada de Tous”. The Government has declared three days of official mourningfrom this Thursday, October 31 to Saturday, November 2, and has announced that the next Council of Ministers will approve the declaration of area highly affected by a natural disasteralthough aid can now be activated without waiting for Tuesday.
The relatives of the missing: “This seems like it won’t end”
Samuel Hernáiz looks for his father, a truck driver who was en route to a nursery in La Alcudia. Is called José Hernáiz Montoro and he is 64 years old. His son assures in La Hora de la 1 that he has “a lot of experience in the profession” and that he has gotten out of difficult situations, such as accidents. “It’s what makes us trust him,” his son admits.
The nursery customer was the one who raised the alarm to the Civil Guard, who found the truck, but José was not inside. “It’s very difficult. This doesn’t seem to end and all we want is for someone to callthat someone sees something, that someone knows something. We understand that there are many people alike. Much encouragement to those who are looking for their loved ones and to those who have suffered losses,” said Samuel.
Samuel Hernáiz is looking for his father: “Since Tuesday morning we have not heard anything about him”
Maya Zeitoun is also looking for her father, Bassem Zeitoun, 72 years old. He was driving a truck with a white Scania cab. “No one knows anything about that truck,” said Maya, who lives in Madrid and is going to Valencia to find more information about it, if anyone knows what happened to the truck.
Also from Valencia, María is looking for her uncle, about whom they have not heard anything since Tuesday afternoon. In La Hora de La 1, María says that they have called the number of missing people, but they cannot get in touch. According to this young woman, a person told them that they believed they had seen their uncle in the Torrent direction, but they have no more information. His name is Juan Vicente Madrid, is over 40 years old and he was in work clothes, although he could have changed.
The search continues for five people in Letur
He device of about 150 troops who work in search of the five people missing After the flood in Letur, in Albacete, work resumed early this Thursday, mainly focused on combing the area of the natural channel of the stream that overflowed on Tuesday. In this municipality of Albacete, where there has been 92-year-old woman deadmud accumulates in the streets that have been buried.
The Civil Guard has been deployed in Letur with the main objective of locating the five missing people. For this device a total of 60 troops from different units and specialties of the Civil Guard.
Firefighters from the Albacete Provincial Council, members of the Civil Protection, the Red Cross and soldiers from the Special Operations Command who were on maneuvers in the area also participated in the device.
In addition, 57 members of the Army have traveled to the Albacete town of Letur to join the search efforts for the missing.
