Spain mounts biggest peacetime disaster recovery operation as death toll reaches 214
5,000 more troops deployed for search and clean-up while scientists link weather to climate change
03 November 2024 - 15:00
bySusana Vera and Guillermo Martinez
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A firefighter works on a street covered with mud and debris, in the aftermath of floods caused by heavy rains, in Massanassa, near Valencia, Spain, on November 3 2024. Picture: SUSAN VERA/REUTERS
Valencia — The deadliest flash floods in Spain’s modern history have killed at least 214 people and dozens were still unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the eastern region of Valencia, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.
In a televised statement, Sanchez said the government was sending 5,000 more army troops to help with the searches and cleanup in addition to 2,500 soldiers already deployed.
“It is the biggest operation by the armed forces in Spain in peacetime,” Sanchez said. “The government is going to mobilise all the resources necessary as long as they are needed.”
Valencian regional authorities said on Saturday night the total number of fatalities in the region was 211, plus two from Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia.
The tragedy is already Europe’s worst flood-related disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal.
Hopes of finding survivors were raised when rescuers found a woman alive after three days trapped in a car park in Montcada, Valencia. Residents burst into applause when civil protection chief Martin Perez announced the news.
Volunteers flocked to Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences centre on Saturday for the first co-ordinated cleanup organised by regional authorities. The venue has been turned into the nerve centre for the operation.
In Valencia’s Picanya suburb on Saturday, shop-owner Emilia, 74, said: “We feel abandoned, there are many people who need help. It is not only my house, it’s all the houses and we are throwing away furniture, we are throwing away everything.
“When is the help going to come to have fridges and washing machines? Because we can’t even wash our clothes and we can’t even have a shower.”
Nurse Maria Jose Gilabert, 52, who also lives in Picanya, said: “We are devastated because there is not much light to be seen here at the moment, not because they are not coming to help, they are coming from all over Spain, but because it will be a long time before this becomes a habitable area again.”
The storm triggered a new weather alert in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, where rains are expected to continue during the weekend.
Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent in Europe and elsewhere due to climate change. Meteorologists think the warming of the Mediterranean, which increases water evaporation, plays a key role in making torrential rains more severe.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Spain mounts biggest peacetime disaster recovery operation as death toll reaches 214
5,000 more troops deployed for search and clean-up while scientists link weather to climate change
Valencia — The deadliest flash floods in Spain’s modern history have killed at least 214 people and dozens were still unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the eastern region of Valencia, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.
In a televised statement, Sanchez said the government was sending 5,000 more army troops to help with the searches and cleanup in addition to 2,500 soldiers already deployed.
“It is the biggest operation by the armed forces in Spain in peacetime,” Sanchez said. “The government is going to mobilise all the resources necessary as long as they are needed.”
Valencian regional authorities said on Saturday night the total number of fatalities in the region was 211, plus two from Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia.
The tragedy is already Europe’s worst flood-related disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal.
Hopes of finding survivors were raised when rescuers found a woman alive after three days trapped in a car park in Montcada, Valencia. Residents burst into applause when civil protection chief Martin Perez announced the news.
Volunteers flocked to Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences centre on Saturday for the first co-ordinated cleanup organised by regional authorities. The venue has been turned into the nerve centre for the operation.
In Valencia’s Picanya suburb on Saturday, shop-owner Emilia, 74, said: “We feel abandoned, there are many people who need help. It is not only my house, it’s all the houses and we are throwing away furniture, we are throwing away everything.
“When is the help going to come to have fridges and washing machines? Because we can’t even wash our clothes and we can’t even have a shower.”
Nurse Maria Jose Gilabert, 52, who also lives in Picanya, said: “We are devastated because there is not much light to be seen here at the moment, not because they are not coming to help, they are coming from all over Spain, but because it will be a long time before this becomes a habitable area again.”
The storm triggered a new weather alert in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, where rains are expected to continue during the weekend.
Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent in Europe and elsewhere due to climate change. Meteorologists think the warming of the Mediterranean, which increases water evaporation, plays a key role in making torrential rains more severe.
Reuters
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