ALBACETE.- The passage of the DANA through Castilla-La Mancha has already caused two deaths, one in Mira (Cuenca), a town from which the Military Emergency Unit (UME) has already withdrawn, and another in Letur (Albacete), where the search for five people will resume at first. Thursday time, although during the night they continued with three drones with thermal cameras from the Civil Guard.
The floods suffered in these towns between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning have occurred in both cases when the rivers that cross their urban centers overflowed, causing serious material damage and the death of two women, aged 88 and 92.
The center of Letur was completely flooded by a flood, and the neighbors, many in a sea of tears, detailed to the press that they are looking for two municipal workers, a couple whose home there is nothing left and it was razed; and at least one other older woman.
The search work in Letur was interrupted this Wednesday at nightfall and resumed early today, while in Mira the UME has withdrawn when the rescue work for people in a life-threatening situation has been completed, and has Lowered the activation level of Meteocam in Cuenca.
The president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, spent the day in Letur this Wednesday, where he admitted that the prognosis for the missing is “very negative”, although he maintains “hope”.
The president specified that they are going to continue tracing the 5 kilometers of drag that the river has had in search of missing people.
The only deceased so far in the town of Albacete has been found one kilometer from the town center, near the treatment plant.
Likewise, the regional government has already advanced that will request the declaration of a catastrophic zone in Letur and other areas affected.
In the afternoon, the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, also visited Letur; and the national leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
The minister highlighted that it is “the time to address the emergency in a collaborative and coordinated manner”, and that after the emergency phase “there will be time for reconstruction afterwards”, while conveying her “love, understanding and support in the pain to all the families of the victims” on behalf of the Government of Spain.
Núñez Feijóo, for his part, expressed his fear that the volume of fatalities from dana will continue to grow, and pointed out that there will be years of work left to reconstruct the damage caused in Castilla-La Mancha and the Valencian Community, while showing his hope that the greatest number of missing people can be found.
Since Tuesday, a dozen soldiers from the Special Operations Command (MOE) of the Spanish Army, better known as the ‘green berets’, who were on maneuvers in the area, have been working in Letur since Tuesday, and the Ministry of Defense will send more troops throughout of the day.
HALF A HUNDRED RESCUES IN MIRA
In Mira, where the body of an 88-year-old woman was found, Castilla-La Mancha requested the intervention of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) when a flood broke out in the early hours of Wednesday, and 50 people were rescued.
A neighbor of this Cuenca town, Patricia Cuenca, said that “something like this had never been experienced in the town,” since around three in the morning they began to see how the river level was rising, “and that cars, televisions were lowered , furniture…”, to the point of rise three meters above street level.
Among the facilities that have been flooded are the town’s senior residence, which had to be evacuated last night, and its health center, so emergencies are being referred to the Cardenete outpatient clinic, thirty kilometers away.
In both Letur and Mira, school activities were cancelled, and in the region as a whole, seventeen school routes were cancelled.
Between 00:00 a.m. on Tuesday and 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 263 incidents were recorded in the region, according to the spokesperson for the regional government, Esther Padilla.
There have also been numerous problems in transportation. Railway traffic between Madrid and Valencia remains suspended and there are sections cut on the A-3 in the province of Cuenca, as well as other cuts on different provincial and regional roads.
ONE OF THE WORST OF THE CENTURY
The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has indicated that, due to its impact, this DANA is among the three worst of this century in the region.
This was stated by the Aemet delegate in Castilla-La Mancha, Luis María Bañón, who detailed that, although information is still being collected and the data is not exact, It has been possible to exceed 200 liters/m2 in a few hours in the Letur area.
And in Mira, the Aemet automatic measurement station has collected 174 l/m2 in the last 24 hours, which added to the rainfall recorded in the last five days leaves a total of 219.6 l/m2 in the area.
Given the havoc caused by this DANA (especially tragic in Valencia, with at least 62 dead), gestures of condolence have multiplied, for example with the suspension of the ordinary plenary sessions of the Congress and the Senate, as well as the one scheduled for tomorrow in the Regional courts, or the minutes of silence that have been kept in the different town halls of Castilla-La Mancha.
Beyond the regional borders, different regions of Spain, countries such as Portugal, Italy, Germany, Israel, and institutions such as regional parliaments and the Council of Europe have begun to mobilize to offer their solidarity support and, in some cases, aid to the autonomous communities most devastated by DANA.
#search #missing #people #Letur #resumes #early #Thursday
