Spain activates largest peacetime deployment of army and police to epicentre of Valencia floods

Hopes of finding survivors were becoming slim, three days since torrents of muddy water submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure in the country’s worst such disaster in decades.

Almost all the deaths have been recorded in the Valencia region, where thousands of security and emergency services personnel were frantically clearing debris and mud in the search for bodies.

Sánchez said in a televised address that the disaster was the second deadliest flood in Europe this century and announced a huge increase in the security forces dedicated to relief works.

‘The Spanish Government is assisting the regional authorities in everything they have requested,’ he said. ‘The priority is to save lives. We have activated the largest deployment that has already carried out 4,800 rescues and helped more than 30,000 people in flooded homes, roads and industrial estates.’

‘Unfortunately, the scale of the disaster means that they are insufficient,’ he continued. ‘I am therefore pleased that [Valencian regional president] Carlos Mazón has decided to increase his request for soldiers from 500 to 5,000. The state will proceed with this dispatch immediately. In addition, another 5,000 additional national police officers and civil guards will be deployed today, bringing the total to 10,000 officers.’

Spain was carrying out its largest deployment of army and security force personnel in peacetime, he added.

Restoring order and distributing aid to destroyed towns and villages – some of which have been cut off from food, water and power for days – is a priority.

Authorities have come under fire over the adequacy of warning systems before the floods, and some stricken residents have complained the response to the disaster is too slow.

‘I am aware the response is not enough, there are problems and severe shortages … towns buried by mud, desperate people searching for their relatives … we have to improve,’ Sánchez also said.

Authorities in the Valencia region have restricted access to roads for two days to allow emergency services to carry out search, rescue and logistics operations more effectively.

Officials have said dozens of people remain unaccounted for. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told radio station Cadena Ser on Friday it was ‘reasonable’ to believe more fatalities would emerge.

But with telephone and transport networks severely damaged, establishing a precise figure is difficult.

Sánchez said electricity had been restored to 94% of homes affected by power outages and that around half of the cut telephone lines had been repaired.

Some motorways have reopened but local and regional roads resembled a ‘Swiss cheese’, meaning certain places would probably remain inaccessible by land for weeks, Transport Minister Oscar Puente told El País daily.

Thousands of ordinary citizens pushing shopping trolleys and carrying cleaning equipment took to the streets on Friday to help with the recovery.

Susana Camarero, deputy head of the Valencia region, said some municipalities were ‘overwhelmed’ by the solidarity and food they had received.

The movement continued on Saturday as around 1,000 people set off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia towards nearby towns laid waste by the floods.

Authorities have urged them to stay at home to avoid congestion on the roads that would hamper the work of emergency services.

The storm that sparked the floods on Tuesday formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for this time of year.

But scientists warn climate change driven by human activity is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of such extreme weather events.