Spain is to distribute €10.6 billion ($11.5 billion) in aid to those affected by the devastating flash floods that killed more than 200 people and wreaked havoc in the country’s east last week, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday.
The aid package, which will include direct payments to households and businesses, was “only a first step,” Sánchez said.
One week following the historic floods, large parts of the more than 60 affected municipalities in the eastern Valencia region remain devastated and roads blocked, despite clean-up efforts kicking into high gear.
Rubbish, broken furniture and piled-up cars could be seen everywhere on images broadcast by public broadcaster RTVE and other media outlets.
The official death toll from the floods was slightly revised downwards on Tuesday, from 217 to 215, with the vast majority killed in the Valencia region.
However, authorities warn that the figure is expected to rise further, with at least 89 people missing in the eastern province of Valencia.
It is the first official figure of the missing to be released by authorities, after reports in Spanish media based on emergency calls suggested the toll could reach up to 2,500 people.
The search for the missing is focussed on underground car parks and other flooded underground facilities such as tunnels and passages.
Authorities fear that some victims may have been washed into river estuaries or the Mediterranean, broadcaster RTVE reported. A naval amphibious ship has been deployed to support the search and rescue efforts.
“The smell is still very bad here,” said an RTVE reporter in Paiporta, not far from the provincial capital Valencia. Paiporta, home to some 27,000, has been among the hardest hit with around 70 killed.
Residents there and in other almost completely destroyed villages said more help was needed. A man interviewed by RTVE said there were rats on the street, while others wept and railed.
Paiporta Mayor Maribel Albalat pleaded for “more heavy machinery,” saying it was “very difficult to cope with the chaos.”
As the search for more victims continued, concerns arose whether the €10.6 billion in aid promised by the central government would be enough to deal with the aftermath of the floods.
The Valencia regional government had demanded aid worth more than €30 billion on Monday, an amount that roughly corresponds to the region’s entire annual budget.
