More than 200 dead – still huge search effort four days after the floods
The search for missing people continues, not least in cars and water-filled buildings, four days after the heavy rain that started on Tuesday caused severe flooding.
5,000 extra soldiers are now deployed in the reddening work. This now means that upwards of 7,000 soldiers must help with the aftermath of the storm. That after a request from Valencia’s regional leader Carlos Mazón, writes El Mundo.
5,000 extra police are also being deployed, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promises in a televised speech.
There is still no official figure for how many people are missing after the deadly floods in Spain.
“War scenario”
More than 200 people have died in the floods that swept across Spain on Tuesday. Worst hit is the region of Valencia, where the situation has been described as “a war scenario”.
The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following the situation closely, but has no knowledge that any Swede has died.
“At the moment, we are not aware of missing, dead or seriously injured Swedes, but we are in contact with Swedes who are in the area,” writes the Foreign Ministry in an email to TT on Saturday morning.
Still many missing
People are still missing – but it is far from clear how many. According to sources in the regional government of Valencia as the newspaper El Mundo taken note of, the authorities are working with a list of around 2,500 calls about missing persons. The calls have come in to a special telephone line set up in response to the disaster.
But as mobile phone coverage returns, people are rescued from hard-to-reach places and relatives manage to get in touch with each other, the number drops. It has already halved from the total of 5,000 calls received in the first few days, and authorities expect the number to drop further.
Valencia’s regional leader Carlos Mazón urges anyone who called in about missing persons to also notify the authorities in case the persons in question are found again.
However, the storm is not over yet. The Spanish weather authority upgraded during the night of Saturday its rain warning for the area around Valencia from yellow, the lowest of three levels, to orange, the second highest. An orange warning also applies to Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, write El País.