The consequences of the floods in Spain due to the DANA (Isolated Depression at high levels) that crosses the Iberian Peninsula are being catastrophic.
At the moment, 62 fatalities have been reported, the majority in the province of Valencia, and it is estimated that this is the worst storm in the last century in the region.
According to an official statement from the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI), this is a balance carried out by different security and emergency bodies and forces. The final balance is expected to be much higher because there are dozens of missing people.
This morning the president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, appeared before the media and stated that, for the moment, a specific number of victims cannot be offered. «It is materially impossible to confirm it with complete certainty. We will do it over the next few hours,” he said.
Among the deceased is a complete family in the Valencian municipality of Torrent, made up of a married couple, two children and a baby. Two men, a woman and a baby have died in Paiporta. In Chiva, Cheste, Alfafar and Alcudia there is at least one fatality in each town.
very complicated night
The night has been really complicated in various parts of Spain, especially in the Valencian Community, where numerous people have spent hours in their vehicles, in trucks or locked in their homes. The interventions of rescue forces number in the hundreds.
In the town of Letur, in the province of Albacete, six people remain missing, including two City Council officials. The Civil Guard deployed an operation with drones and helicopter to search for him, while since the morning dogs specialized in locating people have been incorporated.
A DANA is an Isolated Depression at High Levels, that is, a phenomenon in which a mass of polar air, at a height of between 5,000 and 9,000 metersis separated from the atmospheric flow and can cause strong storms when it collides with warmer and more humid air, usually coming from the Mediterranean Sea.
Communication route cuts
Numerous communication routes have been affected by the storm. Thus, since last night the circulation of the AVE (high-speed) trains that connect Valencia with Madrid and Barcelona was interrupted.
There were also cuts on the A7 and A3 highways in the Valencian province, as well as on other minor roads. Likewise, the metro service in the city of Valencia has been interrupted until further notice.
The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, warned during the early hours of the morning that this Wednesday “there will be no Cercanías Valencia service until conditions allow it.” It is expected that the report will be issued shortly to specify when the connection with Madrid will be reestablished.
For its part, Aena, the company in charge of airports in Spain, reported that 30 flights have been diverted and 49 were canceled at the Valencia terminal until this morning.
Valencia City Council has suspended in-person classes for this Wednesday in the city, as well as all sports and outdoor activities in municipal facilities. Likewise, parks and gardens and cemeteries will remain closed.
Similarly, classes have been suspended in the town of Paiporta, one of the most affected, as well as in Mira and Landete (Cuenca) and in Letur (Albacete). All administration staff of the Generalitat Valenciana, the regional government, are exempt from going to work today.
Army Activation
Last afternoon, the Government of the Valencian Community requested the Ministry of the Interior to activate the Military Emergency Unit (UME) in the province. During the night, more than 1,000 soldiers were deployed to support assistance and rescue efforts.
The Army was deployed mainly in the Utiel area, in the Plana de Utiel-Requena region, as well as in the municipalities of Chirivella and Alacuás.
Damage in the rest of the country
In the Andalusian province of Malaga, 14 people had to be rescued due to rising rivers and heavy rains. In the municipality of Cártama, firefighters have had to evacuate several residents from their homes and cut off the access road.
This is the greatest tragedy caused by rains so far this century in Spain and is among the most serious in the last 75 years.
To find a disaster of similar proportions in the Valencian Community, we must go back to 1982, when the overflowing of the Júcar river in Valencia and the failure of the Tous dam, in the east of the country, caused 38 deaths and the evacuation of one hundred thousand people.
What is considered the largest hydrological catastrophe in Spain occurred on the night of September 25 to 26, 1962 in the Catalan region of Vallès Occidental, in the northwest, on which more than 200 liters per square meter fell in three hours. that caused a thousand fatalities.
The mayor of Paiporta, Maribel Albalat, assured that “dozens” of people could have died as a result of the damage and has indicated that the town, located ten kilometers from Valencia, is completely cut off and nothing works.
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