The search for missing people in the area of eastern Spain hit by severe flooding continued on Monday, almost a week after the disaster claimed more than 200 lives. Attention is now focused on a shopping centre in Aldaia, a suburb of the provincial capital Valencia.
Water is being pumped out of the underground car park where it is feared more bodies may be discovered. The authorities said people should not believe exaggerated reports of further deaths.
Aldaia Mayor Guillermo Luján on the state broadcaster RTVE “the emergency services have already searched around 20 vehicles but found no bodies.
“We estimate that there were fewer than 100 vehicles parked there at the time of the flooding.”
The official death toll currently stands at 217, of which 213 are in the province of Valencia alone.
Many people are still missing, but no official figure has been released.
Some media outlets have been reporting that many hundreds of people are missing, but there are no sources for these figures.
“We should not speculate,” said the Minister for territorial policy, Ángel Víctor Torres who added: “We have to proceed seriously.”
Meanwhile, the clean-up and rescue efforts are picking up speed.
On Monday, more than 7,500 military personnel were on the scene, in addition to around 10,000 police officers from the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil.
They were supported by the fire brigade and civil defence, as well as by countless volunteers.
Some districts in Valencia received as much rain in a few hours last week as they would normally get in a whole year.
On Monday, Spain’s weather service Aemet issued further severe weather warnings for parts of Catalonia in the northeast and Extremadura in the west of the country.
Flood: Ancelotti says competitions should have been suspended in Spain
Football in Spain should have been completely suspended after the worst flash floods in decades swept the eastern region of Valencia last week, killing at least 215 people, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Monday.
Real’s visit to Valencia on Saturday was one of the several LaLiga games postponed after the Spanish FA (RFEF) ordered to re-schedule all games scheduled for Valencia at the weekend in addition to seven cup ties last week.
Ancelotti said it was nonsense that in other places of the country the competitions continued as expected and argued that there was no enthusiasm in Spain to play football at the moment.
“Football is a party and you can only celebrate and party when you, your family and everybody is well… When people are not well, you don’t party,” Ancelotti told a press conference ahead of Real’s Champions League clash against AC Milan on Tuesday.
“Football has to stop… For me it does. Because it is the most important of the least important things in life. But we are not the decision makers… We have to follow the instructions of those who are in charge.
“There are many ways to help. Football had to stop and then help. Everyone has been clear about it, nobody wanted to play. It seemed like the right decision… I have no desire to talk about football today…”
“It was supposed to be a special game for me, facing Milan… But there is no meaning in talking about football now,” Ancelotti said.
“It has been a difficult week, not because of what happened with the Ballon d’Or or El Clasico… It happened and that’s that, congratulations to the winners. Our sadness is not about that, it is for what is happening here in Spain.” He added.