The devastating floods, a veritable water hell in Spain, have so far claimed the lives of 95 people, according to the latest figures from the authorities.
The Spanish Minister of Territorial Policy, Angel Victor Torres, announced in an interview with the Spanish state television Air Te Ve E that 92 people died in the autonomous region of Valencia alone. Two others lost their lives in the region of Castile-La Mancha and one in Andalusia, BTA reported.
Torres told reporters that authorities could not yet give a final death toll because many people were still missing. With these words, the minister hinted that the number of dead could increase.
The Spanish government announced three days of national mourning in memory of the victims of the floods in the southern and eastern parts of Spain, reported France Press.
The three-day mourning will begin tomorrow, October 31, and will continue until Saturday, November 2, Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres told reporters, adding that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will visit the affected areas tomorrow.
Meteorologists say parts of Valencia received as much rain in eight hours yesterday as they normally receive in a year.
Flooding caused traffic problems on highways, farmland was flooded in Valencia, which produces two-thirds of Spain’s citrus fruit, the world’s leading exporter of the commodity.
Residents in the worst-hit areas said they saw people climbing onto the roofs of their cars to escape the oncoming water.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promised to restore the destroyed infrastructure.
And he said in a televised address that “all of Spain is crying together” with people still searching for their missing loved ones.
Classes have been cancelled, sports events too, and state institutions have stopped working. A state of emergency has been declared in the city.
Photo: AP/Alberto Saiz/BTA
Our world chess champion Antoinette Stefanova also ended up with her family in the disaster area. “This phenomenon of ‘La Gota Fria,’ that is, ‘The Cold Water,’ they say happens here in Valencia almost every year, but it is the first time with such fatal consequences. The amount of rain, which is for the whole year or at least for a few months, fell within a few hours,” the chess player told bTV.
Another Bulgarian, Maria Kostova, describes the horror she witnessed and the face of death she saw literally after the disaster swept everything away in just hours. “Everything is destroyed, just seeing the corpses on the ground, this is not our home, it is not the same. On the roads we used to travel to work for the airport, those roads are gone. It’s very scary,” says Maria.
Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced earlier that there was no information about Bulgarians being injured, and the compatriots stranded at the airport in Valencia, who were sent as members of sectional commissions, are receiving logistical assistance so that they can return to our country.
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