The death toll from the massive flooding in Valencia, Spain, has reached 217, officials announced Sunday as the search for survivors and bodies continued in devastated cities and towns.
“The situation we are living in is tragic,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in Spanish during a televised national address on Saturday, describing the discovery of bodies in garages, homes, riverbanks and roads. “We are almost certainly talking about the most serious flooding our continent has seen so far this century. And I am aware that the response that is being given is not enough.”
Sánchez said the government is sending 10,000 soldiers and police to the eastern region of Valencia, about 200 miles east of Madrid, to assist local authorities.
“We have activated the largest deployment, which has already carried out 4,800 rescues and has helped more than 30,000 people in flooded homes, roads and industrial estates,” Sánchez said. “Unfortunately, the magnitude of the catastrophe means that they are insufficient.”
The devastating flooding began last Tuesday amid heavy rain in southeast Spain, quickly overtaking streets and trapping people in cars and businesses. The Valencia region was inundated with the equivalent of a year’s worth of rainfall in just eight hours, according to the State Meteorological Agency.
Carlos Mazon, the president of the Valencia region, said in a statement in Spanish on Saturday that 69 municipalities across the entire region were either totally or partially affected by the flooding.
“We have all seen fallen bridges, collapsed roads, washed-out train tracks and the streets of our towns full of mud, cars and furniture piled up,” he said.
Amid questions over the government’s response to the catastrophe, he added, “We are going through the worst moment in our history in our land. A moment of a magnitude that no one could imagine. We are facing the challenge of our lives and together we are going to solve it.”
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