Hundreds of civil and military emergency workers are searching shopping centres, garages and underground car parks for more victims of floods in the Valencia region that have killed at least 214 people, as public anger mounts over Spanish authorities’ handling of the disaster.
Yellow and amber weather warnings were in place for parts of Valencia and neighbouring Catalonia on Monday, with people in the affected areas advised to stay off the roads and keep away from the coast and rivers.
Heavy rain pounded the Barcelona area on Monday morning, leading the regional government to issue civil protection alerts and cancel all local train services. More than 50 flights due to take off from El Prat airport were cancelled or severely delayed.
Over the weekend, personnel from the armed forces’ military emergencies unit (UME) focused their efforts on shopping malls and car parks where people could have been trapped by the floods, which were caused by torrential rains that experts have linked to the climate emergency.
On Sunday, UME workers managed to enter the underground car park of the huge Bonaire shopping complex in the Valencian town of Aldaia. . Using a small boat and flashlights, police searched the lot’s 1,800 parking spaces, telling reporters that so far about 50 vehicles had been found and no bodies had been discovered.
The disaster, which has prompted the central government to deploy 10,000 troops and police officers, has killed 210 people in Valencia, three in Castilla-La Mancha and one in Málaga. The number of missing remain unknown. There are fears the death toll could rise as the relief efforts reach previously inaccessible areas.
The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has described the floods as the worst natural disaster in Spain’s recent history and said all necessary resources would be mobilised to deal with its aftermath.
On Monday, another 2,500 soldiers were sent to the affected areas, adding to the 5,000 sent in recent days. A Spanish navy vessel also arrived at Valencia’s port on Monday, carrying marines, helicopters and lorries loaded with food and water.
But anger over the response to the crisis – and, in particular, over the Valencian regional government’s delay in sending an emergency alert when the floods hit on Tuesday – has only risen.
On Sunday, a high-profile visit to the badly affected Valencian town of Paiporta was disrupted after a furious crowd threw mud at Sánchez, as well as the regional president, Carlos Mazón, King Felipe and Queen Letizia. There were also shouts of “Killers!” and “Get out!”
Speaking a few hours after he was swiftly escorted from the area, the prime minister acknowledged people’s pain but said a small minority of those in Paiporta were behind the angry scenes.
“We know what people need and our priorities are clear: saving lives, finding the bodies of the people who have died, and rebuilding the affected areas,” he said.
“The violence carried out by a few people won’t deflect the collective interest. It’s time to look ahead and to keep on working with all the means and coordination needed to get through this emergency together.”
Sources in Sánchez’s socialist administration were a little more forthright, describing the protests in Paiporta as “a far-right and anti-political show”.
Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, conceded the visit may have been mistimed.
“Maybe it wasn’t the best time,” he told the Spanish TV channel La Sexta. “There’s a lot of anger and people feel abandoned … and then you have the activities organised by some people who belong to the extreme right.”
The country’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, told broadcaster TVE that police had opened an investigation into the incidents that marred the official visit.
King Felipe, who insisted on continuing the visit, said he appreciated the scale of people’s fury.
“One has to understand the anger and frustration of many people given all that they have gone through, as well as the difficulty in understanding how all the mechanisms work when it comes to the emergency operations,” he said on Sunday.
Mayors from the affected municipalities have been pleading with officials to send help as soon as possible.
“We’re very angry and we’re devastated,” said Guillermo Luján, the mayor of Aldaia. “We have a town in ruins. We need to start over and I’m begging for help. Please help us.”
