Spain: PM Sanchez announces €3.76 billion in flood aid

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday announced an additional aid package of €3.76 billion ($4 billion) to reinforce €10.6 billion in flood aid pledged last week after a devastating storm.

Sanchez has faced criticism over his response to the floods, the deadliest in modern Spanish history.

It occurred during an exceptionally heavy Mediterranean storm on October 29.

The ensuing flash floods devastated large swaths of the country, especially the eastern Valencia region, and killed more than 220 people.

Infrastructure was destroyed and outside help cut off for days after alert systems failed to recognize the situation.

Sanchez, who compared the aid effort to those undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic, said the government "will be there with all the necessary resources and for as long as it takes."

Massive recovery effort

"There are still streets to be cleaned, there are garages to be drained, there are many infrastructures to be repaired and, above all, many lives, many homes and many businesses to be restored to normal," Sanchez told reporters after his weekly Cabinet meeting.

Thousands of soldiers, police, firefighters and emergency service workers have been deployed to affected regions to assist in rescue, recovery and reconstruction efforts as dozens remain missing.

Sanchez said on Monday that electricity and telephone service had been restored to nearly all homes hit. He nevertheless noted that the repair of many roads and rail lines would require far more time.

National rail carrier Renfe said its high-speed Madrid-Valencia line would be running Thursday.

Beyond funding debris removal, the government claims its aid package will protect the income of some 400,000 workers, streamline compensation access and add 12 months of mortgage relief to a one-year moratorium on mortgage payments announced last week.

Now not the time for political blame, Sanchez says

Many citizens perceived government reaction and response to the flood — at the local, state and federal level, and with King Felipe VI getting an especially rude reception in Valencia last week — as marked by mismanagement before, during and after the event.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets across the region to voice their outrage.

The largest demonstration so far took place in Valencia, where an estimated 130,000 people showed up to demand the resignations of Prime Minister Sanchez and Valencia's conservative leader Carlos Mazon.

Sanchez has brushed off the calls, saying his focus is trained on reconstruction. "Later will come the political debate about what things we must improve in the face of this climate emergency."

Mazon, who has been summoned to explain his administration's flood response to the regional parliament on Thursday, has said that "errors may have been committed," adding that "everyone" would be obliged to review them.

js/rmt (AFP, Reuters)