The death toll from the worst floods of the century in eastern Spain continues to rise. There are currently 213 deaths, 210 of them in the municipalities of the southern belt of Valencia, while three women have lost their lives in Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia, according to the latest update from the Emergency Center of the Region of Valencia. Today, King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit the affected areas, where 5,000 more soldiers have been sent, the prime minister announced. In total, 7,500 members of the armed forces are involved in the search for the missing, supported by 5,000 police and civil guard agents mobilized by the Ministry of the Interior.

Authorities say electricity has been restored to 94 percent of users, but some 7,000 people are still without power and many more without drinking water. Five days after the floods began, the chances of finding survivors among the missing, whose number remains uncertain, are increasingly slim. Searches are concentrated in the parking lots of shopping centers and homes that were cut off by the mud. There are fears that dozens of victims are trapped in the parking lot of the Bonair shopping center in Aldaia, where pumps have already sucked up 75 percent of the water that reached a height of four meters in the two basement floors.

Firefighters and soldiers from the Emergency Unit (UME) are searching for people in submerged cars in what could become a large mud cemetery. Civil Protection has activated teams of psychologists to support the families of potential victims. Operations are also taking place in the parking lot of the Consum supermarket in Benetusser, where at least 20 people are being searched for among the submerged cars.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska clarified that this is not 1,900 missing; this number represents calls to the emergency number from family members worried about their loved ones, many of which are due to a lack of communication. The priority of the military forces and emergency services is to rescue any survivors and restore roads and infrastructure to provide aid to the affected populations.

The President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has requested the intervention of seven central government ministers in the Emergency Coordination Center to manage the catastrophe. Circulation in the affected areas remains restricted to emergency vehicles and residents. Due to the yellow alert issued by the meteorological company Amet for heavy rains expected today, access to volunteers is prohibited in at least eleven municipalities affected by the floods.