Spain sends 10,000 more troops, police to flood-hit Valencia
November 2, 2024
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain was carrying out its largest peacetime army deployment after catastrophic flash floods killed more than 200 people in the country's east. Dozens more remain missing.
The floods left the streets and houses of Valencia's towns coated in mudImage: Jose Jordan/AFP
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Spain's government said it would send 5,000 more soldiers and 5,000 more police officers to the eastern region of Valencia to help with search and cleanup efforts following flash floods that have killed at least 211 people.
"It is the biggest operation by the armed forces in Spain in peacetime," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised statement on Saturday. "The government is going to mobilize all the resources necessary as long as they are needed."
Torrential rain swept across Spain's east from Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, triggering the country's deadliest flood event in modern history. Many people were caught unawares and were swept away in their cars or trapped in houses.
Four days on, dozens of people are still believed to be missing.
Thousands gather for cleanup after Spain floods
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Search for survivors
Rescuers continued to search through debris, stranded cars and waterlogged buildings on Saturday.
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There are currently already roughly 2,000 soldiers involved in the emergency operation, as well as almost 2,500 Civil Guard gendarmes and 1,800 police officers.
Thousands of volunteers have also joined cleanup efforts in hard-hit towns in the Valencia region, which bore the brunt of the flooding.
Regional authorities have imposed tight restrictions on driving in the area until Sunday to keep roads clear for emergency services.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said he expected the death toll to rise.
In the wake of the disaster, the Valencia regional government has faced criticism for only sending out flood warnings to mobile phones on Tuesday evening, when the flooding had already started in some places.
This river in the municipality of Alora burst its banks as a result of heavy rainfall. Heavy flooding is causing chaos and despair in southeastern Spain. In the Valencia region alone, at least 62 people lost their lives, the civil protection authorities reported in a preliminary assessment on Wednesday. Dozens of people are still missing.
Image: Gregorio Marrero/AP/picture alliance
Emergency calls via social media
The regions of Andalusia, Murcia and Valencia, which are popular with tourists and border the Mediterranean, are particularly affected. In some areas, residents were trapped in their homes and made emergency calls on social media, the "El Pais" newspaper reported.
Image: Víctor Fernández/AP Photo/picture alliance
Storm warning still in place
Rescue workers help those affected in the province of Albacete, where people are also missing. And the danger is not over yet: A severe weather warning is still in place for large parts of the country. According to the weather service Aemet, the situation across Spain will not ease completely until Thursday, when the rain is expected to move northeast.
An area of rain has been hanging over the south of the Iberian Peninsula for days, with some areas receiving more rain in a single day than in a whole month, according to Spanish media reports. Roads turned into raging rivers, dozens of cars were swept away by the masses of water and in some cases, as here in Valencia, were pushed together into heaps of rubble.
Image: Alberto Saiz/AP Photo/picture alliance
'Unprecedented situation'
This duck has no problem with the flooding — but the fire department has to help people get out of their cars trapped in the water. Schools and parks in Valencia will remain closed on Wednesday and train services in the region have also been suspended. The head of the regional government of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, described it as an "unprecedented situation."
Image: ALberto Saiz/AP/picture alliance
Hailstones as big as golf balls
Garbage floats on a flooded street in Picuana, Valencia. There was a power cut in parts of the province and telephone lines were also down at times. The heavy rain was accompanied by hail and strong gusts of wind, according to the weather service Aemet. "The hailstones were the size of golf balls," farmer Mercedes Gonzalez told "El Pais" newspaper. "It seemed like the end of the world."
Image: JOSE JORDAN/AFP/Getty Images
Climate change fueling extreme weather
Stunned, a man takes in the scene of a flooded street in front of his store in Llombai, Andalusia. Passengers on a high-speed train that derailed in Andalusia had a stroke of luck: None of the 276 passengers were injured. Researchers warn that extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms and heavy rainfall are being exacerbated by climate change.
Image: Eva Manez/REUTERS
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Football matches called off
The flood disaster prompted Saturday's clash in Spain's football league between Valencia and Real Madrid, as well as Villarreal versus Rayo Vallecano, to be called off.
Longtime Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone said "it makes no sense" for any La Liga matches to go ahead this weekend.
"What is happening is very hard," he told reporters ahead of his side's game against Las Palmas on Sunday. "It is very moving to see the people who went out on the streets to help, who with a shovel and their tools are trying to collaborate and that speaks very well of the country, of the people, and we want to help wherever we can."
"There are people having a very hard time, it's very sad, and they tell us to continue, and here we are, continuing."
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick also said calling off all games might have been the right decision.
"For me it's a tragedy. We also had this in Germany three years ago. It's also horrible to see this," he said, referring to flash flooding in Germany's Ahr Valley in July 2021 that killed more than 180 people.
"If we can support the region, we will do that of course; the other things the league has to decide," Flick said.
Emergency crews search for bodies after Spain floods
