Search operations for the missing, a week after the floods which devastated the south-east of Spain and left at least 217 dead, have focused since Monday November 4 on underground car parks in the Valencia region.
Read also: In Spain, fear of disease spreads to areas affected by floods
“We have planned a morgue which can accommodate 400 dead today,” General Javier Marcos, head of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), explained during a press conference. For the moment, the authorities are refraining from providing a number of missing people. The final death toll could be heavy and emergency services are particularly concerned about the situation in many underground car parks, which are completely flooded and which have not yet been completely inspected.
See also: VIDEO. Spain: searches continue, Barcelona in turn under downpours
In the Bonaire parking lot, “there are millions of liters” to evacuate
This is particularly the case of the Bonaire car park, a vast shopping center in Aldaia, a town of 31,000 inhabitants in the suburbs of Valencia. With a capacity of 5,700 places, almost half of which are underground, the latter is completely flooded.
“The shopping center is devastated in its upper part. And down there is a terrible unknown. We're not sure what we'll find.” said the mayor of Aldaia Guillermo Lujan on public television TVE. Numerous pumps were installed to begin evacuating the water. “All the means of the armed forces are at work to dry out this parking lot, but there are millions of liters,” recognized General Javier Marcos.
Divers have managed to penetrate the underground, without spotting any bodies so far. Late Monday morning, the police confirmed that they had not found any victims in the first 50 vehicles inspected.
The reaction time of the authorities questions
Solidarity has been established in the affected regions. Residents are hard at work clearing the mud from homes and businesses. The streets are still littered with debris and thousands of car wrecks are still waiting to be cleared.
According to information fromThe Country, 98% of electrical service had been restored as of Tuesday morning. 93% of the affected population is now connected to the water network but it remains unfit for consumption.
In the communities most affected by last week's floods, anger and distress prevail six days after the tragedy. “I was born here and I lost everything,” confided to theAFP Teresa Gisbert, a resident of Sedavi, another disaster-stricken town in the suburbs of Valencia.
In his house, a meter-long dark line of mud is visible where the water has penetrated. “They told us 'rain alert' but they should have told us 'flood'”, deplores this 62-year-old woman. In the Spanish media, criticism of the speed of reaction of the authorities is increasing. Some residents feel like they are on their own and are asking for more help.
King Felipe VI attacked by disaster victims
On Sunday, this feeling of helplessness turned into a flood of anger when King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia went with Pedro Sánchez and the conservative president of the Valencia region Carlos Mazón to Paiporta, a municipality considered to be the epicenter of tragedy. « Assassins ! Assassins ! », exasperated residents shouted.
Some people threw mud and various objects at the procession, while insults were poured out against the Prime Minister and Carlos Mazón, who were quickly evacuated by the security services.
On Monday morning, the Spanish meteorological agency (Aemet) officially assured that the “meteorological crisis” situation had ended in the Valencia region, but the concern moved in the middle of the day some 350 km further north, in Barcelona, placed on red alert.
Torrential rains led to the cancellation of 153 flights, said Transport Minister Oscar Puente. Eighteen other flights also had to be diverted. High-speed train traffic between Barcelona and Madrid was also disrupted.
