The severe storms in Spain, which mainly affected the Valencia region, have left at least 51 people dead in this province alone, according to local authorities.
According to El Pais, the figures were confirmed by the Integrated Operational Coordination Centre of the Ministry of the Interior.
“At this time, and provisionally, the number of deaths is 51 people. We are beginning the process of surveying and identifying the victims,” they announced.
It is known, however, according to Carlos Mazon, president of the regional government of the Valencian Community, that the ‘multiple victims’ protocol has been activated, which occurs in the event of natural disasters, whether or not caused by human action, fires or major accidents that result in a high number of victims.
It should be noted that initial figures confirmed the existence of 13 fatalities, including four children. Bad weather has hit the Valencia region in eastern Spain since Tuesday night, with heavy rain and flooding reported, the Civil Guard police force said today.
Images being broadcast on television and social media show villages, roads, streets and fields flooded, cars swept away by water and stuck on highways, and people on rooftops or in trees waiting to be rescued.
Last night, rainfall in the Valencia region was the highest in 24 hours since September 11, 1966, according to official figures.
Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles told reporters in Madrid today that the Valencia region had experienced “an unprecedented phenomenon” in the last few hours.
According to the Valencian Community emergency service, around 200 people were rescued from various locations during the early hours of the morning, but the civil protection and military teams on the ground are still unable to access several affected areas, as roads have been flooded and destroyed or infrastructure has been damaged.
In a statement to journalists, the coordinator of the emergency teams, José Miguel Basset, said that with the dawn and the reinforcement of resources, it has become possible to begin rescues using air resources and that there are hundreds of people trapped, for example, on sections of two motorways, in a situation that he considered “very complicated”.
In addition to the infrastructure being affected, there are also several areas without communications and electricity, said José Miguel Basset.
The Spanish government has also created a crisis committee to monitor the effects of the storm on the Mediterranean coast, while King Felipe VI said he is following “with great concern the devastating consequences” of the floods.
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