Spain deploys 5,000 troops as death toll from floods reaches 211

Madrid: Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has ordered 5,000 more troops to be deployed to deal with the aftermath of the devastating and destructive floods that swept the country this week, killing at least 211 people in the eastern, southern and central regions.

Sanchez, speaking after presiding over a meeting of the flood crisis committee, said the government was using all the resources to get over the “terrible tragedy” of the floods from which Valencia suffered the worst, according to The Guardian.

He also conveyed that much of the aid still was not getting to the people in need of it — likely due to the flooded and muddy roads — urging people to work together and put behind “political bickering” and blaming each other.

“There are still dozens of people looking for their loved ones and hundreds of households mourning the loss of a relative, a friend or a neighbour,” Sanchez said in an address.

The floods that struck Spain this week are Europe’s worst flood disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal due to the natural catastrophe.

Due to the high stakes of the doom that has fallen on Spain, Sanchez said the country witnessed “the largest deployment of armed forces and police personnel that’s ever been seen in our country during peacetime. It has so far carried out 4,800 rescues and helped more than 30,000 people in their homes, on the roads, and in flooded industrial estates.”

Still, help was not getting to the people in need and was taking too long to reach due to blocked roads and that is why the Spanish government ordered a deployment of 5,000 troops for rescue and aid operations.

Sanchez’s address to the country came as thousands of volunteers showed up at Valenica’s City of Arts and Sciences centre, which was transformed into the main point of the clean-up operation of the affected areas.

The volunteers came out to help but nonetheless, the mass arrival hindered the access for emergency workers to some areas, prompting a deployment plan from the authorities.