Death toll from floods in Spain exceeds 200

Photo: José Jordan Agence France-Presse L’heure était au nettoyage vendredi, à Massanassa, dans la région de Valence.

Rosa Sulleiro – Agence France-Presse et Wafaa Essalhi – Agence France-Presse respectively in Paiporta and Valencia

Published and updated on November 1st

• Europe

The dramatic floods that have hit southeastern Spain this week have already claimed the lives of more than 200 people, a figure that is expected to rise due to the number of missing people. Military reinforcements have also been deployed in increasing numbers to the region to deal with the chaos.

According to the latest report published by the emergency services of the Valencia region, the region most affected by the real tsunami that buried dozens of towns on Tuesday evening and during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, 202 people died in this community alone. And to this number are added three other deaths that occurred in two neighboring regions.

Three days after the tragedy, calls for help and poignant testimonies from residents left to fend for themselves are multiplying on radio and television, with state aid still awaiting delivery.

In Paiporta, a martyred town of 25,000 inhabitants that has already recorded 62 deaths, many people without water and electricity for three days formed a queue on Friday in front of an improvised distribution point.

“The most important thing is food and water,” Ramón Vicente, 73, who came with his woman.

The survivors also have to deal with acts of looting and theft. The police have announced that they have already detained 50 people.

Photo: Manaure Quintero Agence France-Presse A woman walks in a street still covered in mud, Friday, in Paiporta, in the Valencia region.

Military reinforcements

To deal with the situation, 500 additional soldiers were deployed in the region on Friday morning and another 500 will be deployed on Saturday, the president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, and the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, announced to the press.

These reinforcements will bring the number of soldiers deployed in the Valencia region to 2,200.

As proof of the seriousness of the situation, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, assured that the government was ready to send “the 120,000 men of the army if necessary” and to leave them there for as long as necessary.

The army's priorities are to reopen the roads to allow the delivery of aid, particularly food, but also to help in the search for the missing, whose exact number is not known, but very high.

The government acknowledged on Thursday that there were “dozens and dozens”, suggesting a heavy human toll and probably unprecedented for a natural disaster in the contemporary history of Spain.

An officer of the Civil Guard's diving unit, Commander Pizarro, thus declared on public radio that the discovery of corpses was “permanent.”

“There are mountains of cars” in the mud, said Amparo Fort, the mayor of Chiva, a town near Valencia. “Many are empty, but for others, it is clear that they have occupants.”

Photo: Manaure Quintero Agence France-Presse Residents of Paiporta line up on Friday to get basic necessities.

Alerted too late to the seriousness of the situation, many people were caught in their cars. The incomprehension and anger of the inhabitants persisted 72 hours after the tragedy.

“They didn’t warn us,” accused Isabel Ruiz, 58, who was waiting patiently for help in Paiporta. “The disaster would have happened, because you can’t avoid it, but people who live in low places could have taken shelter,” she said. “The alarm was sent [on mobile phones] when the water was already up to our knees.” »

Directly called into question, particularly in the press, Mr Mazón, the president of the Valencia region, has not yet responded to these criticisms.

Read also

• The search for survivors continues in Spain after the “floods of the century”
• At least 51 dead in “dantesque” floods in Spain

Solidarity

In this gloomy panorama, Friday, a public holiday in Spain, nevertheless gave rise to tremendous spontaneous demonstrations of solidarity.

In the morning, thousands of people — carrying brooms, shovels, food and diapers — left Valencia, a city that was not affected by the floods, on foot to go to the devastated neighboring towns.

“We took what we found at home,” commented Federico Martínez.

The number of these volunteers was so great that the authorities called on them to stay at home. “It is imperative, imperative that they go home” so as not to disrupt traffic, Mr. Mazón said.

Although the sun shone on Valencia on Friday, vigilance was still required in some areas of southern Spain: heavy rainfall is still expected this weekend.

The red alert declared in the morning in the province of Huelva, in Andalusia, has however been lowered to the lower level (orange).

Furthermore, Pope Francis expressed on Friday “his solidarity with the people of Valencia”. “May God sustain those who suffer and the rescuers,” he declared at the end of the Angelus prayer.