Spain flood death toll rises as questions grow about government response: NPR

MARY LOUISE KELLY, host:

Now let's head to Spain, where rescue and recovery teams are still working to reach locations where they may find more bodies who drowned in flash floods earlier this week. At least 200 people have died around the city of Valencia in Spain's worst natural disaster in recent memory. NPR's Miguel Macias joins us from Seville. Hello, Miguel.

MIGUEL MACIAS, BYLINE: Hello, Mary Louise.

KELLY: Hey. What's the latest there?

MACIAS: We are still closely monitoring the terrible increase in deaths, because until today there were areas such as the town of Alfafar, just outside Valencia, where help had not yet arrived. There are still houses and cars to be examined. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez assured citizens yesterday that the government is there for them. Let's hear what he said.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SANCHEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

MACIAS: Sanchez said that the government will not abandon the citizens of Valencia. All available resources are used. In fact, the Army today deployed 500 more members of its emergency response unit, and police units are being deployed from other cities to ensure public safety. Today was a national holiday in Spain and we were finally able to see some images of hope. People in Valencia stocked up on water, food and other things that could help, and simply walked to the hardest-hit areas on the outskirts of the city to help.

KELLY: And do we know what kind of impact it had – I mean, how much damage could that have done?

MACIAS: I don't think we know yet how extensive the damage is. There are entire cities where homes have been destroyed and infrastructure as large as bridges has been washed away by rivers of brown water. Think of it almost as a tsunami. It wasn't just water that collected on the streets. You can see videos of a wave of brown water advancing on the streets until it turns into violent rivers. Communications were drastically disrupted and nearly 50 miles of railroad were completely destroyed. Long lines of trucks are stuck on blocked highways, and their products sometimes go bad. And of course there is the emotional toll. People are devastated and sometimes angry at what they perceive as a lack of rapid response.

KELLY: Oh. I mean, it must just be tiring for the people there. Given the severity of this storm, Miguel, are people talking about whether anything could have been done to avoid this terrible death toll – the human tragedy here?

MACIAS: Yes, there is actually some controversy about how citizens were alerted on Tuesday. The official agency for monitoring weather events – it is called AEMET – began warning citizens as early as Thursday the 24th. That's five days before the storm. AEMET also issued warnings early Tuesday morning around 7 a.m., including a red level alert for the area. However, the direct alarm – the beeping cell phone, a loud alarm from the Valencia regional government – went off shortly after 8 p.m. that night. There are witness accounts showing that flooding at this time was up to 2 meters in some areas. This was also rush hour in Spain, so many cars were on their way home. In other words, the destruction would still occur, but the enormous loss of life could have been avoided.

KELLY: This is NPR's Miguel Macias in Seville, Spain. Thanks, Miguel.

MACIAS: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. For more information, please visit the Terms of Use and Permissions pages of our website at www.npr.org.

NPR transcripts are produced by an NPR contractor on a rush basis. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The definitive record of NPR programming is the audio recording.