Almost a thousand soldiers were deployed in Spain, mainly in the Valencia area, in the east, along with firefighters, police and first responders who are trying to locate possible survivors and clear the numerous destruction caused by the storm.
"There are many missing people"The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, confirmed this Thursday to the Telecinco network. "We know that there are places like in Paiporta and Masanasa where there may be people in the garages, in the basements, people who went to pick up the vehicles. That’s the priority right now."indicated Robles.
The last balance reported by the authorities reported 95 deaths, 92 of them in the Valencian Community, the most affected region. Two others died in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha and a third in Andalusia.
This figure, the highest since floods that left 300 dead in October 1973, "will increase" because there is still "many missing"admitted on Wednesday the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres.
The president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, declared three days of national mourning. In a brief televised speech on Wednesday, the socialist leader assured that his government will not let "alone" to those affected and asked the residents of the area to be attentive.
direct help
Meanwhile, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, announced that the local government plans to approve at its meeting next Tuesday a first decree of aid to those affected in the province of Valenciawith 250 million euros.
Mazón has specified that this will be complementary aid to that offered by other Administrations, such as the Government of Spain, and will mean, for example, a minimum of 6,000 euros per person affected in aid. "direct, express, without bureaucracy" to fix houses or buy furniture.
According to the meteorological agency AEMET, on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning several towns in the region received more than 300 liters of water per square meter. The maximum was recorded in the small town of Chiva, with 491 liters, the equivalent "one year of rainfall"accurate.
(ers/ afp, dpa)
