Spain deploys 10,000 more soldiers and police to flooded Valencia region

Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in memory leaves 211 dead while dozens are still missing.

Spain is sending 5,000 more soldiers and 5,000 more police to the eastern region of Valencia after deadly floods this week, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced.

In a televised address on Saturday, Sanchez said the disaster was the second-deadliest flood in Europe this century and that Spain was carrying out its largest deployment of army and security force personnel in peacetime.

At least 211 people have been killed, including 202 in Valencia alone, in Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory.

Rescuers were still searching for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings on Saturday, four days after the monstrous flash floods that swept away everything in their path in the east of Spain. An unknown number of people remain missing.

Thousands of volunteers are helping to clean up the thick mud that is covering everything in streets, houses and businesses in the hardest-hit towns.

Volunteers walk in the mud to help with the cleanup operation after floods in Massanassa, just outside of Valencia, Spain, on November 2, 2024 [Alberto Saiz/AP Photo]

Dozens still missing

Authorities are facing criticism over the effectiveness of warning systems before the floods, with opposition politicians accusing the central government in Madrid of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescue teams.

“There has been a sense of anger that people have been left abandoned here,” said Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego, reporting from Paiporta, one of the worst-hit areas in the outskirts of Valencia.

“This neighbourhood, which is only half an hour from Valencia’s city centre, remained utterly cut off – no water, no electricity, hardly any telecommunications,” she added.

Prime Minister Sanchez said: “I am aware the response is not enough, there are problems and severe shortages… towns buried by mud, desperate people searching for their relatives.”

Susana Camarero, deputy head of the Valencia region, stated on Saturday that essential supplies had been delivered “from day one” to all accessible areas. In the Valencia region, authorities have restricted road access for two days to enable emergency services to carry out search, rescue, and logistics operations more efficiently.

Officials report that dozens of people remain unaccounted for, though determining an exact figure is challenging due to severe damage to communication and transport networks.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Cadena Ser radio on Friday that it was “reasonable” to expect more deaths would be discovered. Authorities are hopeful that the number of missing will decline once telephone and internet services are restored.

The storm that started the floods on Tuesday formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for this time of year.

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

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Al Jazeera and news agencies