No victims were found after the inspection of 50 vehicles in the parking lot of the Bonaire shopping center, located in Aldaia, on the outskirts of Valencia. The spokesman for the National Police, Ricardo Gutierrez, confirmed that the emergency operations were carried out by firefighters and the military emergency unit (Ume).
Crews worked to empty a 2,000 square meter underground area, using 4 drones, kayaks and divers. There were fears that the parking lot, with 1,800 underground spaces and a total of 5,700 spaces, could turn into a massive cemetery of water and mud. However, inspections have proven the most dire predictions wrong. Aldaia Mayor Guillermo Luna said the car park was at “a minimum level of occupancy” when the area was submerged.
Due to the impact of the new Dana, the Civil Protection has launched a new red alert for torrential rains that have hit the province of Castellon, Catalonia and Barcelona. According to the spokesman for the meteorological agency Amet, Ruben del Campo, at Barcelona’s El Prat airport at least 150 liters per square meter of rain have accumulated in just four hours. This phenomenon is equivalent to “a quarter of the annual rainfall” and is close to the historical record of 187 liters recorded in September 1953. Heavy rains have caused the cancellation of at least 70 flights and the diversion of 18 others bound for Barcelona.
High-speed train traffic on the Barcelona-Madrid line has been restored after being interrupted by a flooded tunnel. During a visit to the flood-affected areas, King Felipe VI listened to the people’s pleas for help in Paiporta: > “Felipe, don’t abandon us.” The monarch assured that “the State in its entirety is and will be present” to face the catastrophe and changed his official agenda to chair a meeting of the emergency military unit.
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