Spain is sending another 10,000 troops and police to the eastern region of Valencia, devastated by historic floods that killed 213 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.
Hopes of finding survivors faded four days after floods of muddy water destroyed towns and infrastructure in the European country’s worst disaster in decades.
Nearly all the deaths occurred in the Valencia region, where thousands of security and emergency services frantically cleared rubble and mud in search of bodies.
Sánchez said in a televised address that the disaster was the second-deadliest flood in Europe this century and announced a massive expansion of security forces involved in relief efforts.
The government had accepted the leader of the Valencia region’s request for 5,000 additional troops and informed him of a further deployment of 5,000 police and vigilantes, Sánchez said.
Spain carried out the largest deployment of army and security force personnel in peacetime, he added.
– Distribution of flood relief –
Restoring order and distributing aid to devastated towns and villages – some of which have been cut off from food, water and power since Tuesday’s deluge – is a priority.
Authorities have come under fire for pre-flood warning systems, and some affected residents have complained that the response to the disaster has been too slow.
“I am aware that the response is not enough. There are problems and serious shortages… cities buried under mud, desperate people looking for their relatives… we must improve,” Sánchez said.
In the ground-zero towns of Alfafar and Sedavi, AFP reporters saw no soldiers as residents shoveled mud from their homes and firefighters pumped water from garages and tunnels.
“Thank you to the people who came to help us, to all of them, because there is nothing from the authorities,” an angry Estrella Caceres, 66, told AFP in Sedavi.
Authorities in the Valencia region have restricted access to roads for two days to allow emergency services to carry out search, rescue and logistics operations more effectively.
A video circulating in Spanish media on Saturday showed the head of a civil protection team celebrating the rescue of a person trapped in a car for three days.
With telephone and transport networks severely damaged, it is difficult to determine an accurate number of missing persons.
Sanchez said electricity had been restored to 94 percent of homes affected by power outages and about half of downed phone lines had been repaired.
Some highways have reopened, but local and regional roads resembled “Swiss cheese,” meaning some places would likely remain inaccessible by land for weeks, Transport Minister Oscar Puente told El Pais newspaper.
– King visits –
Ordinary citizens carrying food, water and cleaning equipment continued their grassroots initiative to support the recovery on Saturday.
About 1,000 people left the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia for nearby towns devastated by the floods, an AFP journalist saw.
Authorities have urged people to stay at home to avoid congestion on roads that would hamper the work of emergency services.
Spanish media reported that King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will visit the Valencia region on Sunday together with Sanchez and regional leader Carlos Mazon.
Mazon on Saturday called the floods “the worst moment in our history” and presented a series of proposals to help his region recover, ranging from infrastructure to economic support.
The storm that led to Tuesday’s flooding occurred when cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea and is common at this time of year.
But scientists warn that climate change, caused by human activity, is increasing the ferocity, duration and frequency of such extreme weather events.
Emergency services published an update late Saturday on the number of confirmed deaths of 213 people: 210 in the Valencia region, two in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha and one in Andalusia in the south.
Authorities have warned that tolls could rise further as vehicles stuck in tunnels and underground car parks are cleared.
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