Spain is sending thousands more troops to the epicenter of the floods

Spain is deploying an additional 10,000 soldiers and police officers to the eastern Valencia region devastated by historic floods that have killed 211 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.

Hopes of finding survivors were dim more than three days after torrents of muddy water submerged towns and destroyed infrastructure in the European country’s worst such disaster in decades.

Almost all the deaths were recorded in the Valencia region, where thousands of members of the security and emergency services were frantically clearing debris and mud in search of bodies.

Sanchez said in a televised address that the disaster was the second deadliest flood in Europe this century and announced a huge increase in security forces dedicated to rescue work.

The government accepted the Valencia region’s leader’s request for 5,000 more troops and informed him of a new deployment of 5,000 police officers and civil guards, Sanchez said.

Spain was conducting its largest peacetime deployment of military and security forces personnel, he added.

– More deaths expected –

Restoring order and distributing aid to devastated towns and villages — some of which have been cut off from food, water and power for several days — is a priority.

Authorities have been criticized for the adequacy of flood warning systems, and some affected residents have complained that the response to the disaster is too slow.

“I am aware that the response is not enough, there are serious problems and shortages… cities buried in mud, desperate people looking for their relatives… we have to improve,” Sanchez said.

In the ground zero towns of Alfafar and Sedavi, AFP reporters saw no soldiers as residents shoveled mud from their homes and firefighters pumped water from garages and tunnels.

“Politicians promise a lot, help will come when it comes,” said Mario Silvestre, 86, a resident of Chiva, where gaping sinkholes risked triggering the collapse of buildings.

Authorities in the Valencia region restricted access to roads for two days to allow emergency services to carry out search, rescue and logistics operations more effectively.

Officials said dozens of people remain unaccounted for. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told radio station Cadena Ser on Friday that it was “reasonable” to believe more deaths would occur.

But with telephone and transport networks badly damaged, putting a precise figure is difficult.

Sanchez said electricity has been restored to 94 percent of homes affected by the power outages and that about half of the downed phone lines have been repaired.

Some highways have reopened, but local and regional roads resemble a “Swiss cheese,” meaning some places will likely remain inaccessible on land for weeks, Transport Minister Oscar Puente told El Pais daily.

– “Swept” by solidarity –

Thousands of ordinary citizens pushing shopping carts and carrying cleaning equipment took to the streets on Friday to help with the recovery.

Susana Camarero, the deputy head of the Valencia region, said some municipalities were “overwhelmed” by the solidarity and food they received.

The movement continued on Saturday as about 1,000 people set off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia for nearby flood-ravaged towns, an AFP journalist saw.

Authorities urged them to stay at home to avoid road congestion that would hamper the work of emergency services.

The storm that triggered Tuesday’s flooding formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common at this time of year.

But scientists warn that human-driven climate change is increasing the ferocity, duration and frequency of such extreme weather events.

bur-imm/sbk