The number of fatalities as a result of huge floods in Valencia, Spain has risen to at least 200 people, government sources have told newspaper El País.
The torrential rain and flooding which hit the coastal city at the end of October was the deadliest in modern Spanish history, killing more than 220 people, the BBC reported.
Valencia’s regional leader has faced criticism for taking around 12 hours to respond to a red weather warning by Spain’s national meteorological office, Aemet.
Briitsh woman Ms Wilkes says the widespread alert issued directly to people’s phones came “far too late”, by which time the floods had already caused significant damage.
Several people remain missing. Rescue operations continue across southern and eastern Spain but have been hindered by downed power lines that have cut off electricity as well as collapsed phone networks and roads that remain impassable. (Guardian)
The failure of authorities to issue public warnings in time before the devastating floods in Valencia offer an example of what it means when far-right policies meet environmental disasters. One of far right Vox’s conditions for backing the conservative People’s Party’s Carlos Mazón as regional premier was the elimination of the Valencian Emergency Response Unit.