Spain mobilizes 10,000 soldiers and police to help flood-hit areas

Spain has been dealing with severe flooding over the past week, which has killed at least 211 people in the country's east, south and centre.

In response to the storm and flood aftermath, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ordered the deployment of the country's largest peacetime military, with 10,000 soldiers and police mobilized.

Military and police forces are deployed to respond to severe flooding in Spain. (Photo: EPA)

In the first 48 hours after the floods, he said, Spain had “deployed the largest number of armed forces and police ever seen in peacetime”. So far, the forces have carried out 4,800 rescues and helped more than 30,000 people in flooded homes, on the streets and in industrial areas.

It took too long for the force to reach blocked and flooded homes, garages and isolated villages.

"That is why the Spanish government today sent 4,000 additional personnel from the military emergency unit to the province of Valencia," Mr. Sánchez said . "Tomorrow, another 1,000 soldiers will be mobilized. I have also ordered the deployment of a naval landing ship with an operating room, helicopters and a fleet of vehicles that will arrive at the port of Valencia in the coming hours."

The prime minister also added that 5,000 national police and civil police will be deployed to the affected area. Currently, 2,500 soldiers and 5,000 police are participating in the response mission.

Speaking after chairing a meeting of the flood crisis committee, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the government was mobilizing all possible resources to tackle the "terrible tragedy", with the worst affected area being the eastern part of Valencia.

The prime minister also acknowledged that much of the aid had yet to arrive and called for unity among all sides, an end to political bickering and recriminations.

"There are still dozens of people searching for loved ones and hundreds of families mourning the loss of relatives, friends or neighbors. I want to express my deepest condolences to them and want to assure them that the Spanish government and the entire state, at all different administrative levels, are always with them," Mr. Sánchez shared.

Kong Anh (Source: The Guardian)

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