Latest news Feverish search for missing persons after flood drama in Spain

It looks like a scene from a horror movie: in a dark and quiet underground car park, several men wade slowly and carefully through waist-high water. They are wearing hard hats, face masks and carrying flashlights. Unidentifiable objects float on the surface. The search for missing persons is focused on this underground parking lot of the Bonaire shopping center in Aldaia, a suburb of the metropolis of Valencia, as well as on other underground garages - six days after the storm of the century in eastern Spain.

According to the latest official figures, the floods and landslides have claimed at least 217 lives, most of them in the Valencia region, which is also popular with German holidaymakers. However, the death toll is expected to rise further - partly because many people have still not been contacted.

Search in the midst of a bestial stench

All eyes are on Bonaire in particular, as there are no fewer than 2,700 underground parking spaces there. The police, military and fire department are working tirelessly - in the midst of a bestial stench, according to reporters. The good news: no bodies were discovered during the search of the first 50 vehicles.

Meanwhile, Aldaia Mayor Guillermo Luján put the dramatizing reports of some media into perspective on state TV station RTVE. Some speculated that hundreds of bodies could possibly be found in Bonaire alone. "The parking lot was almost empty, we estimate that there were less than 100 vehicles parked there at the time of the flooding," Luján emphasized. We have to be careful, he said, as exaggerated reports are circulating.

Warnings against speculation

There is still no official number of missing persons. A few media outlets have been writing for days about 1,500, 2,000 or even 2,500 missing persons. However, there are no reliable sources for this. They are presumably based on the emergency calls, some of which were received by the authorities at the beginning of the storm. "We must not speculate", said the Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, on this topic. He warned against fake news. We must proceed seriously.

The recovery of the bodies, the trembling for the missing and the despair of the thousands who have lost all their possessions and, in some cases, relatives and friends, remain the focus of attention after just under a week. The tense mood among those affected, who are complaining about the slow pace of aid, was also demonstrated by the riots during the visit of the royal couple Felipe and Letizia and head of government Pedro Sánchez on Sunday to the badly affected community of Paiporta, when the guests were pelted with mud, insulted and even attacked. It is suspected that right-wing extremist groups incited the citizens. The police launched an investigation.

But there is also some consolation in the news: People who were thought to be missing keep turning up. Most recently, pensioner Josefa, as police officer Iván García told RTVE. "The joy of the relatives and friends when they saw her again was huge, indescribable," he said. "She was at home the whole time but couldn't be contacted." García is going from house to house with colleagues and volunteers. There are still "many people who are completely disoriented" - and are therefore not getting in touch.

No more storm warnings in the disaster area

Meanwhile, the clean-up and recovery work continued to gather pace. On Monday, more than 7,500 military personnel were deployed alongside around 10,000 police officers from the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil. They were supported by the fire department and civil defense as well as countless volunteers. It is assumed that the clean-up work will take many days and even weeks. Reconstruction is likely to take months.

In Valencia, there was as much rain in a few hours on Tuesday in some places as there usually is in a year. No significant rainfall was expected in the disaster area on Monday or over the next few days. Instead, it rained heavily in Catalonia in the north-east of the country. The airport in the regional capital of Barcelona had to cancel around 70 flights and reroute 18. All regional rail services were temporarily suspended. Numerous roads were flooded and 150 schools canceled classes.

SDA