Berliner Boersenzeitung - Spain dreads more flood deaths on day six of rescue

EUR -
AED 3.826681
AFN 70.961758
ALL 98.138602
AMD 405.652886
ANG 1.877182
AOA 951.190259
ARS 1045.720247
AUD 1.602814
AWG 1.877897
AZN 1.775245
BAM 1.955573
BBD 2.102956
BDT 124.465544
BGN 1.955294
BHD 0.392554
BIF 3076.642669
BMD 1.041829
BND 1.403837
BOB 7.197164
BRL 6.043693
BSD 1.041579
BTN 87.914489
BWP 14.229347
BYN 3.408604
BYR 20419.848375
BZD 2.099456
CAD 1.456529
CDF 2991.091432
CHF 0.930957
CLF 0.036923
CLP 1018.83097
CNY 7.54601
CNH 7.562783
COP 4573.368835
CRC 530.538382
CUC 1.041829
CUP 27.608468
CVE 110.252195
CZK 25.343745
DJF 185.478458
DKK 7.457729
DOP 62.772709
DZD 139.835759
EGP 51.726992
ERN 15.627435
ETB 127.508391
FJD 2.371151
FKP 0.822333
GBP 0.831435
GEL 2.855018
GGP 0.822333
GHS 16.456089
GIP 0.822333
GMD 73.970229
GNF 8977.957272
GTQ 8.040066
GYD 217.904692
HKD 8.109446
HNL 26.320943
HRK 7.431636
HTG 136.72412
HUF 411.522823
IDR 16610.452733
ILS 3.863061
IMP 0.822333
INR 87.968134
IQD 1364.44153
IRR 43834.955489
ISK 145.523076
JEP 0.822333
JMD 165.930728
JOD 0.738765
JPY 161.242873
KES 134.884334
KGS 90.122166
KHR 4193.512952
KMF 492.268155
KPW 937.645704
KRW 1463.259646
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.867999
KZT 520.059599
LAK 22878.342838
LBP 93271.167197
LKR 303.144792
LRD 187.998165
LSL 18.795317
LTL 3.076251
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.086409
MAD 10.478083
MDL 18.997794
MGA 4861.435378
MKD 61.522855
MMK 3383.819949
MNT 3540.134882
MOP 8.35093
MRU 41.443187
MUR 48.810083
MVR 16.10707
MWK 1806.090235
MXN 21.281613
MYR 4.654932
MZN 66.583684
NAD 18.795317
NGN 1767.675143
NIO 38.325549
NOK 11.531328
NPR 140.663663
NZD 1.78585
OMR 0.400943
PAB 1.041579
PEN 3.949541
PGK 4.193513
PHP 61.404399
PKR 289.239507
PLN 4.337676
PYG 8131.055634
QAR 3.798559
RON 4.978071
RSD 116.991412
RUB 108.671879
RWF 1421.834864
SAR 3.911473
SBD 8.734231
SCR 14.272055
SDG 626.663972
SEK 11.501974
SGD 1.402931
SHP 0.822333
SLE 23.68116
SLL 21846.638123
SOS 595.230868
SRD 36.978718
STD 21563.75683
SVC 9.113941
SYP 2617.626467
SZL 18.788818
THB 35.922648
TJS 11.092512
TMT 3.646401
TND 3.309016
TOP 2.440072
TRY 36.018972
TTD 7.074178
TWD 33.946439
TZS 2770.578216
UAH 43.089995
UGX 3848.553017
USD 1.041829
UYU 44.294855
UZS 13362.448044
VES 48.506662
VND 26482.251319
VUV 123.688032
WST 2.90836
XAF 655.880824
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815595
XDR 0.792308
XOF 655.880824
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379151
ZAR 18.862746
ZMK 9377.71492
ZMW 28.772658
ZWL 335.468513
  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

Spain dreads more flood deaths on day six of rescue
Spain dreads more flood deaths on day six of rescue / Photo: JOSE JORDAN - AFP

Spain dreads more flood deaths on day six of rescue

Thousands of rescuers pumped water from submerged buildings, churned through muddy streets and cleared debris on Monday as Spain braced for more deaths from its worst floods in decades.

Text size:

The toll stands at 217 dead -- almost all in the eastern Valencia region -- and could spike in the coming days as an unknown number of people remain missing.

Around 17,000 soldiers, police officers, civil guards and firefighters spent a sixth day distributing aid, repairing infrastructure and searching for bodies using heavy machinery, drones and sniffer dogs.

Roads and railways were gradually being repaired, while 60 percent of the telephone network had been restored, government minister Angel Victor Torres told reporters.

Almost all the power grid was back up and 93 percent of the affected population has access to the gas network, said Rosa Touris, spokeswoman for the body coordinating rescue work in the Valencia region.

Divers on Monday concentrated their search for missing bodies in garages and a multi-storey car park in the town of Aldaia.

The structure is full of "millions of litres" of water and a morgue capable of holding 400 bodies is being prepared, said General Javier Marcos, head of the army's emergencies unit.

The storm caught many victims in their vehicles on roads and in underground spaces such as car parks, tunnels and garages where rescue operations are particularly difficult.

Authorities in Valencia extended travel restrictions for another two days, cancelled classes and urged residents to work from home to facilitate the work of the emergency services.

- Chaos in Catalonia -

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said Spain is carrying out its biggest peacetime deployment of the armed forces.

But relief works only reached some towns days after the disaster and in many cases volunteers were the first to provide food, water, sanitation and cleaning equipment.

Experts have questioned the warning systems that failed to alert the population in time and the speed of the response.

"They were saying 'alert for water', but they should have said it was a flood," Teresa Gisbert, 62, told AFP in the destroyed town of Sedavi, saying she had "lost everything".

For BassMotor, a small cleaning equipment business in the Valencia region, government help could not come soon enough after the floods destroyed almost all its stock.

After clearing the mud, the company needs to see "how the Spanish government and the aid are responding -- which at the moment doesn't seem to be moving forward much", spokesman Diego Navarro Rodriguez told AFP.

"Everything is pretty uncertain. So there's nothing left to do but wait."

National weather service AEMET announced the end of the emergency for Valencia but torrential rain sparked transport chaos in the northeastern Catalonia region.

Barcelona's El Prat airport, Spain's second busiest, cancelled 153 flights on Monday, Transport Minister Oscar Puente wrote on X.

The city closed some flooded metro stations and regional trains were suspended but no human casualties were recorded in Catalonia, regional leader Salvador Illa told a news conference.

- Monarchs hit by mud -

Spain also grappled with the aftermath of an extraordinary outburst of popular anger in which crowds heckled and hurled mud at King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Sanchez.

A judge has opened an investigation into the chaos in the ground-zero town of Paiporta that cut short their visit on Sunday amid widespread discontent at the perceived mishandling of the crisis.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska blamed "marginal groups" for instigating the violence where mud spattered the monarchs' faces and clothes, and a window of Sanchez's car was broken.

Storms coming off the Mediterranean like the one that struck Spain one week ago are common during this season.

But scientists have warned that human-induced climate change is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of extreme weather events.

"Politicians haven't acted on climate change, and now we're paying the consequences of their inaction," environmental activist Emi, 21, told AFP in the devastated town of Chiva.

(G.Gruner--BBZ)