Spain's cleanup has begun. The more this progresses, the more the death toll will increase.Image: trapezoid
Clean-up efforts are underway after devastating storms hit Spain. The number of victims continues to grow and many are still missing.
Ralph Schulze, Madrid, Bojan Stula/ch media
Rows of mangled vehicles and trucks line city highways. This is an image you can only see in post-apocalyptic movies. Not far away is the working-class district of La Torre, which was devastated by a meter of floodwater and mud on Tuesday. Here, two days after the storm's disaster, you can also see hundreds of cars pushed together by raging torrents in the streets.
At least eleven people died in La Torre. Nine people died trying to salvage their cars from two underground car parks. When they walked into the garage, the water was only ankle deep. After a few minutes, the water reached the garage ceiling. Sudden floods gave trapped people no chance to escape.
The most memorable thing about the Spanish floods: the mountains of cars.Image: trapezoid
The number of victims grew Thursday as cleanup efforts progressed. More than 100 people are believed to have died in devastating storms in southern and eastern Spain. Authorities scoured the rubble searching for dozens of missing people. According to El Pais, 30,000 homes remain without electricity or internet access.
Given these factors, the issue of culpability has increasingly become a focus for the Spanish public. Did the authorities fail to issue flood warnings in time? Discussions intensified on Thursday.
Civil Defense's warning came too late
In fact, civil protection authorities issued the first alert at around 8.10pm on Tuesday, as state broadcaster RTVE re-established. Residents of the Valencia region subsequently received corresponding warnings on their mobile phones. But El Pais wrote in a storm preview that it had started raining hours earlier. Meteorological agency Aemet also announced the highest alert level at around 7.30am on Tuesday morning.
However, the civil protection alert was not issued until the evening, when the first rivers had burst their banks. By this time, many commuters had already climbed into their cars and were driving home during rush hour without any worries. Many people were surprised by the flooding on their way home and had their vehicles trapped or swept away by the current.
The storm left a scene of destruction.Image: trapezoid
But there are some exceptions that may have saved some lives: El Pais reported that the large Ford plant in Almosa Fes had sent employees off work early, and the University of Valencia also closed early due to the storm. Some institutions and companies realized the danger in time.
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles told television channel Telecinco on Thursday that the search for the missing persons was a top priority. On the other hand, she explicitly rejected accusations: “Everyone knows what he did, good or bad.” Robles was undoubtedly targeting Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marasca and the head of the Valencian regional government. The dispute between Los Masson.
According to the dpa news agency, the two politicians accused each other of being responsible for the alarm system. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared the area a disaster area and declared three days of national mourning. Meanwhile, police arrested at least sixty robbery suspects who tried to help themselves out of shops and apartments in the destroyed area. (aargauerzeitung.ch/lyn)
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