VALENCIA: Spain on Tuesday (Nov 5) announced an aid package worth €10.6 billion (US$11.5 billion) to rebuild regions devastated by its worst floods in a generation that have killed 218 people.
The exceptional Mediterranean storm that lashed eastern Spain a week ago triggered surging torrents of muddy water that have left a trail of destruction and an unknown number of missing.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a series of measures including aid to small- and medium-sized businesses, self-employed workers and households that have suffered deaths, incapacity and damage to homes and belongings.
Tax relief and reduction and a three-month postponement to repaying mortgages and loans were also among the announcements aimed at protecting the economy and citizens’ livelihoods.
Security force and emergency services personnel are working around the clock to repair damaged infrastructure, distribute aid and search for bodies in Spain’s largest peacetime deployment of its armed forces.
Sanchez said almost 15,000 troops, police officers and civil guards were in the eastern Valencia region which has suffered most of the deaths and destruction, up from 7,300 last Saturday.
Firefighters painstakingly combed through piles of damaged vehicles and pumped out water from inundated garages and car parks where more victims may be discovered, AFP journalists saw.
Maribel Albalat, mayor of the ground-zero town of Paiporta, told public broadcaster TVE that they were doing “better, but not well”, with many streets still inaccessible and residents struggling to get a phone signal.
Five working groups between the left-wing national government and the conservative-run regional authority have been created to coordinate the recovery in Valencia and overcome their occasionally tetchy relationship.
