At least 89 people still missing from floods in Spain
At least 89 people remain missing after deadly floods in eastern Spain, regional authorities in Valencia say.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he is earmarking 10.6 billion euros ($A17.5 billion) to help victims of the deadly floods on October 29.
The number of missing includes only those who have been reported by family members who have also provided personal information and biological samples to allow for their identification, the Superior Court of Justice of Valencia Region said in a statement.
It added there could be more cases of people who have disappeared whose details have not yet been registered.
More than 200 people were confirmed to have died after heavy rains caused waterways to overflow, creating flash floods that surged through suburbs south of the city of Valencia, sweeping away cars and bridges and flooding properties and underground car parks.
“There are still missing persons to be located, homes and businesses destroyed, buried under the mud and many people suffering severe shortages,” Sanchez said in a press conference in Madrid.
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“We have to keep working.”
At least 217 people died in Valencia, Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia, but only 133 have been identified so far.
The court said coroners had performed 195 autopsies and 62 bodies were still pending identification.
A research vessel from the national scientific body will reach Valencia on November 9 to help in the search efforts, the Science Ministry said.
The vessel has technology to obtain detailed images of the sea floor and explore hard-to-reach areas, it said. There have been suggestions some of the missing people could have been swept down rivers and out to sea.
The government aid will include 838 million euros ($A1.4 billion) in direct cash to small businesses and freelance workers affected by the disaster and five billion euros ($A8.2 billion) of state-guaranteed loans.
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The national government will finance 100 per cent of the clean-up costs incurred by local governments and half of the repairs to infrastructure, Sanchez said.
More than 100,000 cars were damaged by the floods, said Sonia Luque, co-ordinator of the Network of Road Assistance Companies (REAC), while damages to businesses in towns hit by floods could rise to more than 10 billion euros ($A16 billion).
Hector, a police inspector speaking in Paiporta, one of the worst-hit neighbourhoods, said he had experienced plenty of flooding in nearby Alicante but nothing like this.
“This isn’t a flash flood – it’s a tsunami,” said Hector, who declined to give his last name.
In the face of criticism and anger at the slow response to the disaster, Sanchez said the government had deployed nearly 15,000 police and military to help clear flood-affected areas, along with hundreds of forestry officials, forensic scientists, customs agents and heavy machinery to clear roads and rubble.
Defending the government’s response, Sanchez said he had not called a state of emergency, which would have given Madrid control of the crisis, because it would have been less efficient.
He said personnel had been ready to be deployed from the first minute but had required the approval of the regional government run by the conservative People’s Party.
Valencia’s regional leader Carlos Mazon said on Monday the delay in warning people was caused by the Hydrographic Confederation of Jucar (CHJ), which measures the flow of rivers and ravines for the state, cancelling a planned alert three times.
The CHJ fired back that it does not issue flood risk alerts, which are the responsibility of Spain’s regional governments.
– AAP
