Spain is sending 7,500 soldiers to the eastern region hit by devastating floods, the government said on Monday (4), amid growing discontent with the response to the catastrophe that killed at least 217 people.
The army sent around 5,000 soldiers over the weekend to help distribute food and water, clean the streets and protect stores and properties from looters. Another 2,500 will join them, Defense Minister Margarita Robles told state radio RNE.
A warship carrying 104 Navy infantry soldiers, as well as trucks with food and water, approaches the port of Valencia, even as a strong hailstorm batters Barcelona about 300 kilometers (km) to the north.
Rescue teams are still searching for bodies in underground garages, including a 5,000-car parking lot at the Bonaire shopping mall, near Valencia airport, and at the mouths of rivers where currents may have deposited bodies.
The death toll from the worst floods in Spain’s modern history rose to 217 on Sunday – almost all in the Valencia region and more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta.
Local residents’ dissatisfaction centered on authorities’ late warnings about the dangers of flooding and the perception that emergency services were slow to respond.
Yesterday, some residents of Paiporta threw mud at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia, shouting: “Murderers, murderers!”
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the death toll had stabilized because all victims on the surface had been identified.
Torrential rains last Tuesday and Wednesday caused rivers to burst their banks, swallowing streets and ground floors of buildings and washing away cars and pieces of masonry in tides of mud.
It was Europe’s worst flood-related disaster in five decades.
Although rain continued throughout the rest of the week, there was no further major flooding in the area. This morning, the meteorological agency issued a warning for Barcelona, as hail and heavy rain lashed Spain’s second-largest city.
(Additional reporting by Inti Landauro)
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