The body of a person missing in the major floods of October 2024 in the Valencia region of Spain was found almost a year after the disaster, the Valencia court announced this Thursday, October 23.
“DNA analyzes confirm that the body found last Tuesday in Manises belongs to the man who disappeared in Pedralba during the floods,” the Valencia Court announced in a press release.
This source specified that the number of fatalities due to these floods remains, however, at 229 deaths in the Valencian Community, with the death of this 56-year-old man having already been recorded.
229 dead during these floods in the Valencian Community
The discovery of the body, washed away by the waters and found about 30 kilometers from its place of disappearance, occurs almost a year after this disaster that deeply moved the Spaniards.
Next Wednesday a state funeral will be held in Valencia in tribute to the victims, on the first anniversary of the tragic floods.
In addition to the 229 deaths in the Valencia region, another eight people also died in Castilla-la-Mancha (center) and Andalusia (south) during these devastating rains.
The floods were caused by very intense rains, the result of a cold drop (isolated depression at high altitude, very common in autumn on the Spanish Mediterranean coast) whose effects are reinforced by climate change and the significant urbanization of the affected areas.
They criticize the management of alerts and emergencies
The disaster aroused the anger of the victims, who criticized the management of the alert and relief, in a context of controversy between the left-wing central government and the right-wing regional authorities over the powers of each in these areas.
Since then, residents have demonstrated periodically to criticize the regional executive for not having warned them sufficiently in advance of the danger of torrential rains. The next demonstration will be held on Saturday to protest against the authorities’ handling of the disaster.
Spain, a country on the front line of global warming, is periodically affected by torrential rains in late summer and autumn, which struggle to penetrate the soil and suddenly cause river beds to rise.
Source: BFM TV
