Floods in Spain: the largest peacetime deployment of troops

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a speech on Saturday that the new deployment would arrive over the weekend and include 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 members of the police and Civil Guard. That would bring the total number of troops and police in the affected areas to about 17,000.

Sanchez said the new deployment was carried out at the request of Valencia regional president Carlos Mazon, who under Spanish law has full control over emergency relief.

If additional support is needed, the Valencian government just needs to ask, Sanchez said. “I know that the response has not been enough” and that the two administrations must work together, he added.

Mazon and Sanchez, who belong to rival parties, have come under increasing criticism as thousands of self-directed volunteers take to the streets to help flash flood victims amid a growing sense that governments are not doing enough. enough.

Torrential rain on October 29 destroyed houses, roads and bridges, leaving more than 200 people dead and hundreds more missing. Areas of Valencia received a year’s worth of water in just a few hours.

Read more: Spain searches for storm-ravaged city as death toll exceeds 200

Some of the hardest hit areas, such as the town of Paiporta, received little or no rain but were hit hard by landslides and water flowing downstream from areas hit by the storm. .

Under Spanish law, regional authorities have full legal control over the management of emergency relief during natural disasters. They have the right to request aid from the central government or cede control. Madrid could also take over unilaterally by intervening in the regional government – a move that has rarely happened in Spain’s history.