Spain dreads more flood deaths as more rain expected

Local authorities extended travel restrictions for another two days to facilitate the work of the emergency services

Published: Mon 4 Nov 2024, 2:53 PM

Photo: AFP

Spanish rescuers plunged into inundated garages to find bodies on Monday, a day after furious crowds heckled and hurled mud at the king and the prime minister following devastating floods.

The toll stands at 217 dead, almost all in the eastern Valencia region, and Spain dreaded the discovery of more corpses in its worst such disaster in decades.

National weather service AEMET announced the end of the emergency for Valencia but placed part of the northeastern Catalonia region on the highest red alert for torrential rain on Monday.

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Catalan trains were suspended until further notice, Transport Minister Oscar Puente announced on X, while flights were delayed and diverted at Barcelona's El Prat airport.

The country grappled with the aftermath of an extraordinary outburst of popular anger directed at King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The Civil Guard has opened an investigation into the chaos in the ground-zero town of Paiporta that cut short their visit on Sunday, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told public broadcaster TVE.

He blamed "marginal groups" for instigating the violence where mud spattered the monarchs' face and clothes and broke a window of Sanchez's car.

Organising the visit was "a collective mistake" as fringe groups hijacked raw emotions to endanger the royals, Sanchez and Valencia region leader Carlos Mazon, Puente told television channel La Sexta on Sunday.

The incident underscored growing anger at the authorities' preparation for and response to the catastrophe.

Experts have questioned the warning systems that failed to alert the population in time and the speed of the response.

Thousands of soldiers, police officers, civil guards and firefighters spent a sixth day distributing aid and clearing mud and debris to find bodies.

But relief works only reached some towns days after the disaster and in many cases volunteers were the first to provide food, water, sanitation and cleaning equipment.

"We shouldn't romanticise it: the people saved the people because we were abandoned," said Jorge, a resident of the town of Chiva where the royals cancelled their visit on Sunday.

The applause should be for the volunteers, not "those who come just to take a picture and show off", the 25-year-old told AFP.

Divers on Monday concentrated their search for missing bodies in garages and a multi-storey car park in the town of Aldaia capable of holding thousands of vehicles.

The storm caught many victims in their vehicles on roads and in underground spaces such as car parks, tunnels and garages where rescue operations are particularly difficult.

Local authorities extended travel restrictions for another two days to facilitate the work of the emergency services, cancelled classes in Valencia and urged citizens to work from home.

Storms coming off the Mediterranean are common for the season. But scientists have warned human-induced climate change is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of extreme weather events.

"Politicians haven't acted on climate change, and now we're paying the consequences of their inaction," environmental activist Emi, 21, told AFP in Chiva.

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