The toll is increasing by the hour in Valencia. Emergency services, deployed in areas affected by dramatic floods, have at this stage “located and recorded 211 deaths”, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said this Saturday morning. Operations continue to find those still missing.
To support and take over from firefighters and rescuers who have been on the job for three days, “5,000 additional soldiers” will be deployed “in the coming hours,” added Pedro Sanchez during an official declaration from the Moncloa Palace. , residence of the head of government. To these soldiers will be added “5,000 additional police officers and civil guards (equivalent to gendarmes in Spain)” in order to help residents.
Reopen traffic and stop looting
The president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, assured Friday evening that there was still no official figure concerning those missing, while residents without news of their loved ones increased their calls for help. help on social networks. “It would be imprudent to give a figure,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska confirmed on the Antena 3 television channel. Nevertheless, “it is probable, given the circumstances and the feedback from experts […] that there will be more deaths,” he said.
One of the army's priorities, in addition to the search for the missing, is to reopen the roads to allow the delivery of aid, particularly food, by clearing vehicles and rubble which prevent circulation, and to restore the order in the affected municipalities.
Since the floods, which occurred during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the authorities have noted acts of looting and theft. The police announced that they had already arrested several dozen people, several of whom were placed in pre-trial detention.
Solidarity is organized
The outpourings of solidarity continue, particularly in Valencia, where thousands of people gathered for the second consecutive day on Saturday at dawn to go on foot to neighboring towns, equipped with shovels and brooms, according to a journalist. of the AFP. “Yesterday we brought tons of food and water to the most affected municipalities,” Susana Camarero, vice-president of the Valencia region, assured journalists, recognizing that operations were hampered by the state of the infrastructure.
This Saturday, emergency work in Valencia will be done under mild skies. But the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet) warned that heavy rainfall would still occur in the province of Castellon, in the north of the Valencia region, placed on orange alert.
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