Spanish floods aftermath: Massive aid package announced as identification efforts continue
Last weeks devastating floods in Spain left over 200 dead and many still missing. Government launches multi-billion euro aid package while emergency services work non-stop to identify victims and clean-up affected areas
Pedro Sanchez announced a 10.6B euro aid plan for flood-hit areas in spain last tuesday (which includes direct cash payments to affected small-businesses)
The national guard needs DNA samples from victims relatives to help identify bodies: out of 217 deceased people only half have been identified so far. Heavy rains caused flash-floods that hit areas south of Valencia — destroying bridges cars and flooding underground parking lots
Multiple regions face huge clean-up tasks; the government sent about 15k police and military staff to help. Small businesses will get 838M euros in direct aid; plus theres 5B euros in state-backed loans available. Local governments dont need to worry about clean-up costs: the national government will pay for everything
- 100k+ cars got damaged
- 217 people died across Valencia Castile La Mancha and Andalusia
- About 15k emergency workers deployed
- Half of infrastructure repair costs covered
This isnt a flash flood - its a tsunami
The response to this disaster sparked some disagreement: Valenciaʼs leader Carlos Mazon blamed the Hydrographic Confederation of Jucar for not sending alerts while they said its not their job. Fernando Grande-Marlaska the Interior Minister wont say exactly how many people are missing but calls it a “significant number“
