The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Saturday What the death toll from the Isolated High Depression, or DANA, which hit the Valencian Community, mid-week, increased to 211, while authorizing the arrival of 10,000 additional soldiers and police for the search for missing people and the distribution of aid in areas devastated by floods.
Read here: What is DANA and why does it cause heavy rain in Valencia?
“Today another 4,000 soldiers will arrive in the province of Valencia of the military departments and (…) tomorrow morning – Sunday 3 November – the remaining 1,000 soldiers will arrive”, who They will join the 2,500 soldiers already present in the area, Sanchez announced it.
5,000 police and civil guards will also be deployed doubling the agents already present, to guarantee safety and avoid the resulting looting 82 arrests, Sánchez said this in a message from the Moncloa Palace, after chairing a meeting of the crisis committee.
The socialist leader, who described this event as “the largest natural disaster in the recent history” of Spain and “the second flood that has claimed the most victims in Europe in this century”, brought the number of deaths to 211 – one of them Colombian –, the vast majority in the Valencia region, in the east of the country.
Read more: Where is the Dana headed? These are some predictions of the meteorological phenomenon
The government warns it the balance will increase, as the number of missing people remains high, especially because there are still bodies trapped among the mountains of cars piled up on the streets or in parking lots.
Tuesday’s storms rolled in within hours a quantity of water equivalent to that which falls in a year. Floods have destroyed bridges, swept away homes and swept away hundreds of vehicles, now making it difficult for emergency services to move.
SÁnchez admits that Valencia’s response is “not enough”
Faced with the growing desperation of the population, who continue to search for their loved ones or cries for water or food, Sánchez admitted that he was “aware of it “The answer that is given is not sufficient.”
“I know that there are problems and serious shortages, that there are services that are still collapsingmunicipalities buried in the mud,” said Sánchez, who nevertheless sent a message of hope and asked the Spaniards to write “one more chapter in the history of overcoming and resistance which is the history of our nation”.
In the cities of Alfafar and SedavInfrom the metropolitan belt of Valencia, the neighbors continued this Saturday shoveling mud from the houses, without the presence of the army yet, This was confirmed by the AFP agency.
“Politicians promise a lot and then help arrives when it arrives” – said resigned Mario Silvestre, 86 years old, resident in the municipality of Chiva, where dozens of houses were destroyed and where the soldiers had not even arrived this Saturday.
The president of the government guaranteed it The government “is ready” to continue sending the requested resources to the Valencian authorities, at the same time he announced that Spain has already started “the procedures to request help from the European Solidarity Fund”.
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He was happy about it 94% of the electricity supply has already been recovered and half of the telephone lines in the affected cities and removed more than 2,000 vehicles “and hundreds of tons of mud and debris,” allowing roads and highways to reopen.
That is precisely one of the army’s priorities, in addition to the search for missing people reopen the roads to allow the delivery of aid.
“The scale of this catastrophe is unprecedented” the newspaper acknowledged The country the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente.
Help and solidarity in Spain
The solidarity demonstrations continue this Saturday, particularly in Valencia, where Thousands of people walked with shovels and brooms for the second day in a row to the affected locations.
“Yesterday (Friday) we brought tons of food and water to the town halls most affected (…) It is true that all the affected neighbors are asking for more help”, the vice-president of the Valencian Region, Susana Camarero, told journalists.
“It makes sense that they would ask for more help, but there has been no shortage of help,” he said.
The Valencian government has decreed restrictions on the movement of people cross the affected areas over the weekend, so as not to hinder the work of the rescue teams.