Spanish emergency services have stepped up their search for missing people this week after deadly floods killed at least 219 people, with modern technology soon to help rescue efforts.
EFE reported that seventeen space agencies and seven commercial data distributors will provide additional observations and analysis of the affected areas, and the research vessel Ramón Margalef of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (CSIC-IEO) will be involved in the work.
In an attempt to mitigate the multi-million economic damage, the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) announced that it would amend the country’s EU-funded post-pandemic recovery plan to adapt it to the needs arising from the Valencia disaster.
The idea, proposed on Wednesday by Finance Minister Carlos Cuerpo (PSOE), is to redirect funds that are not being used to carry out the necessary repairs and investments in the areas most affected by the floods, The Country reported.
According to experts, the exact amount of material damage caused by the disaster is very difficult to calculate, although the regional government has estimated the impact to be at least €12 billion—for local industry alone—and has requested an emergency aid package worth €31.4 billion.
In this sense, the Spanish government has this week announced the first €10.6 billion urgent relief package for flood-hit areas.
The provisional death toll from the devastating floods is 219 in the province of Valencia, plus five in Castilla-La Mancha, four in Letur, one in Mira and one in Andalusia.
The number of officially registered missing persons in Valencia is 93, although various agencies and organisations have noted that there may be cases of disappearances that have not yet been reported, as well as people who have died but have not yet been identified, Levante-EMV reported.
The Civil Guard has also opened a new office for missing persons in the Valencian town of Albal.
Emergency services continued this week to search for possible victims, especially in the area of the Magro River, the Rambla del Poyo, the mouth of the Turia River and L’Albufera (Valencia), and are continuing to remove debris, belongings and vehicles, pump out water, check the structure of buildings, riverbeds, roads and railways, and restore services such as electricity and gas.
In Letur, the search operation for two people resumed, and work intensified in the area where two of the bodies were found on Tuesday.
The Guardia Civil arrested another 11 people who had committed or were about to commit robberies in the last two nights in industrial estates in L’Alcudia, Picanya and Catarroja, Valencian towns affected by the storm. According to the General Directorate of the Civil Guard, 107 people have now been arrested for looting.
If the arrests by the National Police are included, the total number of arrests rises to 186, according to the latest data provided on Tuesday by the directors general of both bodies.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
