BarcelonaA devastating first balance. The emergency services of the Valencian Country have confirmed at 9 am this Wednesday that at least 51 people have already died as a result of the historic storm that has affected the area since Tuesday. The rains have given way to unprecedented and destructive floods that in a few hours have washed away cars, bridges, roofs, houses, roads and caused countless minor damages.
According to sources from several bodies and Valencian security forces, this morning the procedure for removing corpses and identifying the victims is already starting. Many of the affected areas remain without coverage, and therefore many people are still trying to locate relatives, without success.
This morning, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, did not want to give any exact number of victims, but he did confirm that the Multiple Victims Procedure was already activated last night. And the count, at the moment, is terrifying: the first reports of the morning spoke of 13 confirmed victims and in just under an hour the number has risen to 51.
Train tracks and roads closed
Beyond the personal damage, the Valencian Country woke up this Wednesday dismayed and collapsed. The water has also disabled railway tracks and roads, which are currently closed for safety reasons.
Adif has suspended the Rodalies de Valencia service and trains to Barcelona and Madrid and will only resume the journeys when conditions permit. This has been confirmed by the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, on social networks. Services between Valencia and Barcelona are also suspended due to an incident caused by the fall of a truck from the AP-7 on the road at the height of the municipal term of Borriana.
The metro and tram also do not run in Valencia or its metropolitan area, as confirmed by Metrovalència.
As for the roads, the authorities ask not to use any roads in Valencia or Castellón. “Not so much because of the weather alarm as because of the situation in which the roads are”, said the representative of the Spanish government in the Valencian Country, Pilar Bernabé. He also remarked that there are still people trapped on these roads and that the work of the emergency teams must be “promoted”.
