Spain on alert as forecasters warn fresh floods could hit Valencia
MADRID – Valencia is bracing for more heavy rain after forecasters warned that fresh floods could hit the devastated Spanish region.
Aemet, the Spanish state forecaster, issued a yellow alert for heavy rains on Tuesday in Valencia, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Andalusia, especially in Málaga and Granada.
Two weeks after flooding left at least 220 people dead in flash floods, more rain will complicate the recovery operation. Frogmen were dredging the Albufera lake near Valencia for bodies and police were combing the seashore. Around 80 people are still missing.
King Felipe VI of Spain was due to return to Valencia to inspect troops involved in the clean-up operation.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were pelted with mud by angry crowds when they visited the city with the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and Valencian leader, Carlos Mazón, last week.
There is ongoing political rancour over the poor management of the floods by the regional and national government.
Mr Mazón, who will appear before the regional parliament on Thursday to explain his administration’s decisions, conceded to reporters that “errors may have been committed” and “everyone” would be obliged to review them.
Tens of thousands have called for Mr Mazón’s resignation at a huge demonstration last Saturday in Valencia, with protesters plastering the Valencian government building with mud from the suburbs and villages which have been decimated.
The Valencian authorities only issued a red alert to residents at 8pm hours after the water began pouring into many parts of southern Valencia.
The Spanish government agreed a fresh €3.76 billion aid programme to add to a €10.6bn announced last week.
Compensation will extended to more residents and property, farmers will receive fresh aid totalling €200m and borrowers can benefit from more flexible mortgage payments repayments until 2026.
More than €500m will help clear mud and debris and repairing swamped sewers in the worst-affected towns.
Furlough requests affecting 9,000 people have been submitted and insurance claims are being paid out.
Mr Sánchez said the government was shielding the income of 400,000 workers.
Meanwhile, singing Senegalese volunteers have lifted spirits among the residents hit by the floods.
About 60 volunteers who are originally from the West African country but now live in Spain, travelled from across the country to help with the vast clean-up operation.
They were joined by volunteers from the African Spanish Federation which sent people from all parts of the country to the worst-hit parts of the Spanish city.
Dumba Mar, 38, who works in a slaughterhouse in Valencia, helped to try to restore homes in Paiporta, one of the worst-hit areas, where 60 people died.
“Senegalese people came from Bilbao, from Barcelona, from Salou in Catalonia to help, to do what we could,” he told i. “We sang songs from our country which are just supposed to make you feel happy. I had to go back to work but some people have no work, so they have stayed.”
Moha Benicalap, president of the Valencian branch of the African Spanish Federation, said African migrants who lived in Spain had volunteered to help the recovery operation.
“We have had people from Senegal, from Mauritania, from Ghana, from all over. They wanted to come from outside Valencia or from the city itself,” Mr Benicalap, 52, a taxi driver who is originally from Mauritania but lives in Valencia, told i.
“The singing was just to cheer people up and it seemed to work!”
