Floods in Spain: the army on the front line against the chaos

Military reinforcements were deployed Friday morning in the south-east of the Spain to face à the dramatic situation and total chaos caused by the deadly floods at the beginning of the week.

Three days after the floods, which left at least 205 dead and dozens missing, according to a new report, poignant calls for help from desperate residents of small villages left to fend for themselves were multiplying on radio and television.

“We continue to ask for water, to ask for food,” said Amparo Fort, the mayor of Chiva, a town of 16,000 people located west of Valencia.

“You have to know that there are children, that we have elderly people,” she continued, sobs in her voice, in an interview with national radio station RNE.

At the same time, scenes of looting took place, with the government announcing the arrest of 39 people and promising that the security forces would show “absolute firmness”.

To deal with this dramatic human situation, 500 additional soldiers were deployed Friday morning in the region.

– “Mountains of cars” –

The dispatch of these soldiers, announced Thursday evening by the central government, follows a pressing request from the president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, whose government is overwhelmed by this unprecedented crisis

Residents of Alfafar, in the Valencia region, clear their streets after devastating floods, on November 1, 2024 in Spain © AFP – JOSE JORDAN

These reinforcements bring to 1,700 the number of soldiers deployed in the Valencia region, by far the most affected by the floods, with 202 of the 205 deaths recorded.

These soldiers belong to the Emergency Military Unit (UME), a special unit that intervenes during natural disasters, but also to the Army and 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.

Firefighters on a street in Massanassa, in the Valencia region, after devastating floods, on November 1, 2024 in Spain © AFP – JOSE JORDAN

“We will send the 120,000 men of the army if necessary,” she said in an interview with the TVE.

The army's priority is to reopen roads to allow aid to be delivered, particularly food, but also to help search for missing people, whose exact number is not known, but is very high.

For the first time, the central government acknowledged on Thursday that there were “dozens and dozens” of missing people, suggesting a higher human toll.

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Civil Guard members use drones to search for victims after devastating floods in Paiporta, Valencia region, on November 1, 2024 in Spain © AFP – JOSE JORDAN

An officer from the Civil Guard's diving unit (equivalent to the Gendarmerie), Commander Pizarro, also told public radio that the discovery of bodies was “constant”.

“There are mountains of cars” piled up in the mud, testified Amparo Fort, the mayor of Chiva. “Many are empty, but for others it is clear that they have occupants.”

Alerted too late to the seriousness of the situation, a great many people were surprised in their cars.

In Valencia, a morgue has been set up in the “City of Justice” to allow the identification of bodies, brought in at regular intervals by ambulances from which employees in overalls take out stretchers covered with a white sheet.

The survivors, who lack everything, must also face increasing insecurity, according to multiple testimonies.

“People came in to get trousers, they were stealing,” Fernando Lozano, a resident of Aldaia, west of Valencia, who had gone to the city's shopping centre, told AFP on Thursday.

– Solidarity –

The survivors could nevertheless count on spontaneous demonstrations of solidarity.

People carry buckets and brooms to clean the muddy streets of Alfafar, in the Valencia region, after devastating floods, on November 1, 2024 in Spain © AFP – JOSE JORDAN

On this public holiday, hundreds of people – carrying brooms, shovels, food and even diapers – left Valencia on foot, a city that was not affected by floods, to reach the devastated neighboring towns, AFP journalists noted.

Some said they were responding to a call from friends, others simply wanted to help.

While the sun was shining on Valencia on Friday, vigilance was still required in some areas of southern Spain.

Torrential rains and floods in southeastern Spain © AFP – Guillermo RIVAS PACHECO, Sabrina BLANCHARD

The National Meteorological Agency (Aemet) warned that heavy rainfall would continue this weekend, and declared a “red alert” (maximum risk level) in the province of Huelva, in Andalusia (southwest of the country, bordering Portugal).

For their part, the provinces of Valencia and Castellón, in the Valencia region, remain under orange alert.

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

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