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JOSE JORDAN / AFP
The toll from the floods in Spain now exceeds 200 deaths and it is still not definitive.
SPAIN – The fears of the Spanish authorities have unfortunately been confirmed. They feared that the toll from the floods, already terrible, would continue to get worse. There are now more than 200 victims who have been deplored in these flash floods which affected the south-east of the country, particularly the Valencia region.
“At present, and provisionally, the number of victims is 202 people” for the Valencia region alone, according to a press release published Friday November 1 by the emergency services of this region, by far the most bereaved by the tragedy. Three more people lost their lives in Castile and Andalusia
To deal with this dramatic human situation, 500 additional soldiers were deployed Friday morning in the region. The sending of these soldiers, which brings to 1,700 the number of soldiers deployed in the region, follows a pressing request from the president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, whose government is overwhelmed by this unprecedented crisis.
“Dozens and dozens of missing”
These soldiers belong to the Military Emergency Unit (UME), a special unit intervening during natural disasters, but also to the Army and the Navy. A sign of the authorities' concern, Defense Minister Margarita Robles assured Friday that the government would send as many reinforcements as necessary and that they would stay as long as necessary. “We will send 120,000 army men if necessary”she said in an interview on TVE.
The army's priority is to reopen the roads to allow the delivery of aid, particularly food, but also to help in the search for missing people. On Thursday, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, spoke “dozens and dozens” of missing. This raises fears that the balance sheet will increase for several more days.
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