Another 500 soldiers are being deployed to the Valencia region amid criticism of local authorities over their response to the catastrophic floods that have hit Spain in recent days.
More than 200 people are known to have died, with most fatalities in and around Valencia, but the death toll is expected to continue to rise.
Heavy rains that started Monday caused flooding that destroyed bridges and covered towns with mud, cutting off communities and leaving them without water, food or electricity.
Thousands of people have traveled from the city of Valencia to nearby rural areas to deliver supplies and help with cleaning efforts, but on Friday authorities announced that traffic in the region would be restricted this weekend to ensure access for emergency workers.
Weather warnings that remain in force in north-east and southern Spain will last until Sunday, while another warning has been issued for Saturday in the Balearic Islands.
About 1,700 soldiers are already engaged in search and rescue operations in the Valencia region, although hopes of finding more survivors are dwindling.
Part of the focus is on pumping water from underground tunnels and car parks, where it is feared people may have been trapped as the water rushed in.
Local authorities have been criticized for the speed of response and lack of warnings ahead of the floods.
Amparo Andres, who has owned her shop in Valencia for 40 years, told the BBC that at one point the water in the building reached her neck and she thought she was going to die.
‘At least I’m still alive, but I’ve lost everything. My business, my home,” she said.
“And the government does nothing. Only the young people in the neighborhood help us.”
When he returned to his home, local resident Juan Pérez said: “My whole life, my memories.
‘My parents lived there. And now overnight it’s all gone.”
The Civil Protection Agency, overseen by the regional government, sent an emergency alert to the phones of people in and around the city of Valencia after 8pm local time (7pm GMT) on Tuesday. By then, the flood waters had quickly disappeared. increasing in many areas and in some cases already causing major damage.
Juan González, who lives in the city of Aldaia, said the area is prone to flash flooding.
“It’s outrageous that our local government did nothing about it, knowing this was coming,” he said.
In the devastated town of Paiporta, where more than 60 people have been killed so far, residents have expressed frustration that aid is coming in too slowly.
“There are not enough firefighters, the shovels have not arrived,” Paco Clemente, a 33-year-old pharmacist, told news agency AFP as he helped clear mud from a friend’s house.
The federal government in Madrid is also facing criticism for not mobilizing the army sooner than it did, and for rejecting an offer from the French government to send 200 firefighters to help with search and rescue efforts.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has promised to do whatever is necessary to help the victims of the disaster.
Voluntary clean-up efforts in Valencia – largely organized by young people on social media – have seen motorcades of hundreds of people flock to the areas hardest hit by the floods.
On Friday, local authorities said traffic in the Valencia metropolitan area would be restricted between 12am local time on Saturday and 11.59pm on Sunday.
Local infrastructure chief Martínez Mus said the step was taken to ensure emergency services could use roads freely and to guarantee the supply of water, energy, communications and food distribution.
Dozens of people have been arrested for looting, with one Aldaia resident telling AFP he saw thieves taking items from an abandoned supermarket because “people are a bit desperate”.
Areas in the south – including Huelva and Cartaya – have also been hit by heavy rainfall, while hundreds of families in the city of Jerez had to be evacuated from their homes.
One of the reasons why the flooding has been so severe is the lack of rainfall during the rest of the year, which has left the soil in many areas in the east and south unable to absorb rainwater efficiently.
According to the state meteorological agency Aemet, as much rain fell in an eight-hour period on Tuesday in the Chiva region near Valencia as normally falls in an entire year.
The warming climate also likely contributed to the severity of the flooding.
In a preliminary report, World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists who investigate the role of global warming in extreme weather, estimated that rainfall was 12% heavier than it would otherwise have been, and that such weather itself was even twice as heavy as usual. probably.
