Spain flood deaths top 200, steps up aid

Spain flood deaths top 200, steps up aid
By Wafaa ESSALHI, Rosa SULLEIRO
Valencia, Spain (AFP) Nov 2, 2024

Rescuers resumed a grim search for bodies on Saturday as Spain scrambled to organise aid to stricken citizens following devastating floods that have killed more than 200 people.

Hopes of finding survivors more than three days after torrents of mud-filled water submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure were slim in the European country's deadliest such disaster in decades.

Almost all deaths have been recorded in the eastern Valencia region where thousands of soldiers, police officers and civil guards were frantically clearing debris and mud in the search for bodies.

Officials have said that dozens of people remain unaccounted for, but establishing a precise figure is difficult with telephone and transport networks severely damaged.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Friday told Cadena Ser radio station that 207 people had died and that it was "reasonable" to believe more fatalities would emerge.

It is also hoped that the estimated number of missing people will fall once telephone and internet services are running again.

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

Authorities have come under fire over the adequacy of warning systems before the floods, and some residents have also complained that the response to the disaster is too slow.

Susana Camarero, deputy head of the Valencia region, told journalists on Saturday that essential supplies had been delivered "from day one" to all accessible settlements.

But it was "logical" that affected residents were asking for more, she added.

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

- 'Overwhelmed' by solidarity -

Thousands of ordinary citizens pushing shopping trolleys and carrying cleaning equipment took to the streets on Friday to help with the effort to clean up.

Camarero said some municipalities were "overwhelmed by the amount of solidarity and food" they had received.

The surge of solidarity continued on Saturday as around 1,000 people set off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia towards nearby towns laid waste by the floods, an AFP journalist saw.

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

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez chaired a meeting of a crisis committee made up of top cabinet members on Saturday and is due to address the country later.

The storm that sparked 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.

Spain takes to social media in search for flood missing
Valencia, Spain (AFP) Nov 1, 2024 - When Vanesa Molina saw the plight of hundreds of compatriots desperately seeking news of their missing loved ones following Spain's worst floods in decades, she decided to act.

The marketing specialist, 38, now manages the Instagram account "@dana.desaparecidos" where people can post photographs and information about their missing relatives.

Spanish authorities estimate dozens of people remain missing as rescue workers search the mud and debris, particularly in the eastern Valencia region. More than 200 people have been confirmed dead.

"The idea was to try to contribute and help as I could," with the social media posts designed to "reach as many people as possible", Molina told AFP by telephone.

Families send her photographs with a precise description of the clothes, telephone number and vehicle registration plate, as many victims were trapped in their cars when the floods surged on Tuesday.

"His name is Ramon Garcia Gisbert. He lives in Albal. He's my brother. His telephone has been switched off since Tuesday. Please, share to find him."

Such are the dozens of messages that have been posted on Molina's account, which she manages from an island in the Mediterranean Balearic archipelago off the coast of the Valencia region.

In Paiporta, a suburb of Spain's third-largest city Valencia and ground zero of the floods, dozens of residents remain unaccounted for.

Chayma Bouchafra's uncle Aziz was among the missing for two days. Unable to contact him as the telephone and internet networks were partly down, she launched an appeal for help on X.

The attempt worked: the post amassed more than 4,000 shares and 216,000 views, and Aziz was found within 24 hours, Bouchafra said on the platform.

- Heart-warming messages -

Social media is not the only channel frantic relatives have resorted to.

Public broadcaster TVE and major radio station Cadena SER have dedicated air time to announcements aimed at locating the missing.

But as hopes of finding survivors fade three days after the disaster, more and more relatives only find the dreaded news at morgues.

Two temporary morgues have been set up in Valencia city to identify bodies, including one at the courthouse where only relatives are occasionally allowed to pass a police cordon, an AFP journalist saw.

The regional authorities have asked families of the victims not to go to morgues because the staff will be unable to provide them with enough information or service.

However, a surge of online solidarity has helped make up for that lack.

Volunteers heading to the hardest-hit areas provide information to the administrators of online accounts dedicated to information about missing people.

Nurses sent to the town of Benetusser near Valencia city "inform me about the situation in real time", said Molina, who updates her Instagram page once someone has been found.

"We have had dozens of instances of good news" and moving messages of thanks, she added.

One enterprising internet user has even used all the data to create an interactive tool on Google Maps where each GPS point provides the name, surname, age and measurements of the missing person.

Photographs of animals have also been shared by the hundred, occasionally with a happy ending, including for a Bull Terrier with an injured muzzle found in Benetusser on Friday, according to the account "@danadesaparecidos Valencia".