Laurence Dollimore
IT will go down as one of the deadliest natural disasters in Spanish history.
At least 95 people have been killed by devastating DANA storms, which brought almost 500 mm of rainfall on Tuesday – the average for a normal year.
Tragically, among the dead are the most vulnerable members of society, including babies, children and elderly nursing home patients.
Three days of official mourning have been declared as bodies continue to be recovered from the wreckage. Police sources expect the death toll to rise to 100 or more.
Collapsed roads, hundreds of washed up cars and fallen trees are just some of the examples of the devastation caused by Spain’s ‘worst natural disaster of the century’.
Described as a ‘zombie apocalypse’ by locals, in the ‘ground zero’ of Paiporta, where torrential rain destroyed a bridge, at least 36 bodies were found, including a baby, two men and a woman.
Five more were found in a nursing home for the elderly in L’Horta Sud. In Torrent the dead included two children and another baby.
In Utiel, at least six people are confirmed to have died in the area of Las Fuentes – all of them elderly and alone at the time of their deaths.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will today visit Valencia to pay his respects to the dead and to assess the damage, which will likely run into the billions.
The DANA storm that hit the Vega Baja in 2019 caused €2.3 billion of damage.
“We are going to help you with all the resources of the state and the European Union if necessary,” said President Pedro Sanchez, during a live news flash at midday yesterday.
“Spain will give the best of itself. Let’s pitch in. Let us support, united in pain, those who have lost their loved ones… united, we will rebuild your streets. The whole of Spain is with you.”
It comes as King Felipe VI issued a statement saying he was ‘devastated’ by the events as he offered his ‘deepest condolences’ to the loved ones of the deceased.
