VALENCIA, SPAIN, 13 Nov. - (ANA) - Valencia is braced for more serious flooding as fresh torrential rainfall threatens to overwhelm drains still clogged with mud and debris from last month’s deluge that killed at least 222 people.

 

Around four months’ worth of rain is expected to fall on Valencia’s coastal areas on Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

Much of the city still resembles a disaster zone following flash flooding two weeks ago.

 

Local officials have said drain capacity has reached its limit and Valencia’s president has warned that cleaning vans promised by the Spanish government are still “not here”.

 

“The problem is that the mud is solidifying, and the drainage system could stop working altogether,” said Valerio Eustaquio, a town planning councillor from Albal, one of the worst-affected areas.

 

In anticipation of further heavy rainfall across Spain, the Balearic Islands and large parts of the Mediterranean coast have been placed on alert.

 

Valencia’s city council has also announced that schools will be closed in several parts of the city.

 

The precautionary measures come after authorities were criticised for not reacting quickly enough on the day of the October 29 disaster.

 

On Wednesday morning, residents in the Costa del Sol were taking measures to protect their cars and properties from the coming storm.

 

Around 130,000 demonstrators gathered in Valencia on Saturday to demand the resignation of Carlos Mazón, Valencia’s president, after his regional government failed to issue a mobile phone alert until 8pm on the day of the catastrophe, well after the flooding began.

 

It has also emerged that Mr Mazón spent three hours having lunch in a restaurant that afternoon and did not attend the crisis committee monitoring the situation until 7.30pm.

 

On Monday, he admitted for the first time that “mistakes may have been made” and promised he would offer Valencia’s parliament a full explanation on Thursday.

 

Spain’s prime minister said on Tuesday that climate change had caused last month’s fatal flooding.

 

“More than 220 people lost their lives in my country, and they are the reason I am here; climate change kills,” Mr Sánchez told the COP9 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

 

The affected area from the October 29 flash flooding in the Valencia region is home to 1.8 million people.

 

Around 325,000 of these live in the area just south of Valencia’s city centre, where most of the deaths occurred when a major waterway, the Poyo Canal, burst its banks.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/13 November 2024 - - -