Spain floods latest: Barcelona put on highest alert as airport flooded and 70 flights cancelled
Latest alert comes as British couple found dead – with total killed by devastating storms across country at more than 200
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Your support makes all the difference.Barcelona is facing a red alert warning for dangerous torrential train, with part of the city, including the airport, beginning to flood.
Fatalities from Spain’s worst flash floods in modern history rose to 217 almost all of them in the Valencia region and more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta. Hundreds are still missing
The deadly storm that swept through Barcelona led to the suspension of 70 departing flights and the diversion of another 18 at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, according to operator Aena.
The heavy rainfall has also caused flooding in key areas, including the T-1 terminal and parking facilities.
Footage from the city showed the runway completely submerged as one plane aborted a landing and the few planes left on the tarmac were forced to sludge through several inches of flood water.
Meanwhile, in Valencia, the search continued for bodies inside houses and thousands of wrecked cars strewn in the streets, on highways, and in canals that channeled last week's floods into populated areas.
In the Aldaia municipality, some 50 soldiers, police and firefighters, some wearing wetsuits, searched in a huge shopping center's underground parking lot for possible victims. They used a small boat and spotlights to move around in the huge structure with vehicles submerged in at least a meter of murky water.
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Valencia households to get €6,000
The regional head of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, said that his region would separately hand out each household 6,000 euros and make available at least 200,000 euros to help each town face urgent spending needs.
In total, Mazon, of the conservative People’s Party, said the region would request from Spain’s central government a first aid package worth around 31.4 billion euros, including funds to reconstruct key infrastructure.
Locals criticised late alerts from authorities about the dangers and a perceived delayed response by emergency services.
But General Javier Marcos, commander of the army’s emergency response services, said he had ordered 500 soldiers to be deployed within 15 minutes of seeing the flood warning on Tuesday who were able to enter hard-hit areas.
“The degree of destruction is so great that mobility is limited,” he said. “It is so complex that it requires two things: discipline and patience.”
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti says all football games should have been cancelled
Football games should not have been played at the weekend after the deadly floods, the Real Madrid manager has said.
“Football should have stopped this weekend,” Carlo Ancelotti said.
He added: “Football is a party and you can celebrate when things are going well, but when they’re not going well there’s no celebration to be had. It’s the most important of the unimportant things in life.”
“But we are not the ones in charge and we have zero power”, adding: “All the coaches had the same opinion not to play.”
In pictures: Spanish residents band together in aftermath of flooding
Grandaughter of British couple killed in Spanish floods speaks out
Don Turner, 78, and his wife Terry, 74, had not been seen since flash floods swept through eastern Spain.
Their daughter, Ruth O’Loughlin, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, confirmed to the BBC that her parents’ bodies had been found in their car on Saturday.
She had said her parents had moved to Spain a decade ago because they had “always wanted to live in the sunshine” and criticised the “diabolicial” response from Spanish authorities.
Her neice wrote on Facebook: “This tragedy that will haunt us for a lifetime. If only the people knew the floods were coming. We will never forget.
“Thank you Mom and Auntie Ruth for being so strong and doing the family, and Nan and Grandad proud.
“We love you.”
Catalan Police post harrowing video of desperate rescue
Catalan Police have posted a video of a desperate rescue of a man trapped in his car in Baix Llobregat, a coastal region just south of Barcelona.
Catalan Civil Protectionissued a mobile phone alert to residents in Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, Garraf, Maresme, Vallès Occidental, Vallès Oriental, and Selva counties urging people to limit movement and avoid approaching riverbanks or ravines on Monday morning.
The first message was issued at 8.30am in Baix Llobregat before hours of heavy rainfall affected surrounding areas.
Nearly 3,000 dead animals removed from flooded farms
The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture has removed over 2,950 dead animals from farms in areas hit by the flash floods.
Local officials removed deceased animals from 17 farms in Valencia towns, including pigs, sheep horses and poultry
Hard-hit towns at risk of diseases over floodwaters and decomposing bodies
Spanish public health experts have warned over immediate health risks associated with stagnant floodwaters and decomposing bodies.
The Ministry of Health has insisted that water contamination from dead animals or humans is not currently a public health issue.
However, residents remain at high risk over gastrointestinal illnesses from drinking contaminated water, injuries from debris, and the proliferation of mosquitoes spreading diseases.
Public health societies, emergency response teams, and NGOs are currently working on the ground in the most affected areas like Paiporta and Chiva in Valencia to ensure the safety and hygiene of residents.
With dozens more feared to be dead, health officials have called local authorities to speed up search of bodies and clean-up operations to prevent further risks.
Rescuers fear discovering underwater grave in mall car park
In Valencia, the search continued for bodies inside houses and thousands of wrecked cars strewn in the streets, on highways, and in canals that channelled last week’s floods into populated areas.
Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that authorities can still not give a reliable estimate of the missing. In the Aldaia municipality, some 50 soldiers, police and firefighters, some wearing wetsuits, searched in a huge shopping centre’s underground parking lot for possible victims.
They used a small boat and spotlights to move around in the huge structure with vehicles submerged in at least a meter of murky water.
Police spokesman Ricardo Gutiïerrez told reporters that so far some 50 vehicles had been found and no bodies had been discovered there.
The Bonaire shopping mall’s 1,800 underground parking spaces quickly filled with water and mud on Tuesday and Wednesday when the southern outskirts of Valencia were hit by a tsunami-like flooding. The team is using four pumps to remove the water.
Army sends soldiers to provide aid and deter looters as anger over death toll mounts
Public anger is mounting over the disaster that has killed at least 217 people with dozens of others still unaccounted for. Almost all of deaths occurred in the Valencia region and more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta.
The army sent about 5,000 soldiers over the weekend to help distribute food and water, clean up streets and guard against looters and a further 2,500 would join them, Defence Minister Margarita Robles told state-owned radio RNE.
A warship with 104 marine infantry soldiers as well as trucks with food and water arrived in Valencia port even as a strong hailstorm pummelled Barcelona some 300 km (186 miles) to the north.
Spain’s king responds as angry residents throw mud on Valencia visit
Spain’s king responds after angry residents throw mud on his visit to Valencia town
Spain’s king has vowed to give “hope” after angry residents threw mud at him during his visit to a flood-stricken town in Valencia. More than 200 people have died and thousands of livelihoods have been shattered following last week’s devastating floods. The king’s comments came during a visit to the epicenter of their nation's deadliest natural disaster in living memory, where a crowd of enraged locals hurled clots of mud left by the storm-spawned flooding at Felipe VI and his wife Queen Letizia. After the visit on Sunday (3 November), in a meeting with emergency services, Felipe said the anger had to be dealt with.
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