Four days after the tragic floods which devastated the south-east of Spain, new military reinforcements arrived on Saturday to help search for the missing and restore the towns ravaged by torrents of mud. The latest report given Friday evening by the authorities shows at least 211 victims.
Information to remember:
- Pedro Sanchez announces that 211 people died in the floods
- Spanish Prime Minister declares sending 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 police and gendarmes
- Many villages remain isolated in southeastern Spain
Pedro Sanchez announces new toll of 211 victims
The dramatic floods that occurred overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in the south-east of Spain caused at least 211 victims, according to a latest report released on Saturday by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The relief efforts deployed in the disaster areas have at this stage “located and recorded 211 deaths”, declared the head of government during an institutional declaration, specifying that operations were continuing to find the missing people.
5,000 soldiers and 5,000 additional police and gendarmes
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday the sending of 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 additional police and gendarmes to help the inhabitants of the south-east of the country, ravaged by dramatic floods.
In total, “5,000 additional soldiers” will be deployed “in the coming hours” to help residents of the disaster areas, Mr. Sanchez said in an official statement from the Moncloa Palace, residence of the head of government. . To these soldiers will be added “5,000 additional police and civil guards (equivalent to gendarmes in Spain, editor's note)”, he added.
“Many villages were isolated”
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.
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.
“Many villages were isolated and we called the municipal councils to find out what they needed, but there were no telephones,” she recalled, while thousands of people remain without communications. “The aid is insufficient. Fortunately, Spain knows how to show solidarity,” Alicia Izquierdo told AFP, who came on Friday to bring two carts full of food with her sister Marta to their brother's house in Paiporta, town of more than 25,000 inhabitants where at least 62 deaths have been recorded.
On Friday, the number of volunteers was such that the authorities called on residents going by car to the affected communities to stay at home, so as not to clog the roads and prevent the passage of help. In the suburbs of Valencia, the work of rescuers and soldiers should take place under mild skies on Saturday. 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.
