Civil Protection sends new flood alert to residents in southern Catalonia

Catalonia's Civil Protection services have sent a new flood risk alert on Friday afternoon to residents in southern Catalonia.

A new message has been sent to the mobile phones of residents in Terres de l'Ebre for people to exercise precautions, avoid journies, and keep far away from rivers and streams. 

On Thursday evening, interior minister Núria Parlon recommended people in the area to celebrate Castanyada from home, urging inhabitants of Terres de l'Ebre and Camp de Tarragona to remain in their homes and avoid unnecessary journies.

Authorities have raised the death toll from the storm to 205 people in total, with 202 of them in the Valencian region. Police are continuing the process of removing and identifying bodies.

In the same vein, she asked the residents of Barcelona who have a second home in these areas to avoid going there.

The minister made this recommendations after the council meeting to follow the evolution of the storm in the government headquarters.

One of the government's main concerns is the Terres de l'Ebre region where it has been raining heavily for days, meaning the soil is absorbing less and less water. This causes it to accumulate, meaning greater risk of floods.

Parlon also explained that the Catalan government has offered the Valencian administration all the resources available to help with the emergency, although so far nothing has been requested by the executive of the People's Party, led by Carlos Mazón.

Helicopters

The Spanish government plans to send helicopters with supplies to the areas that have been completely isolated by the storm and where emergency services are not able to reach.

Spain's minister of transport, Óscar Puente, explained the plan on Friday morning in an interview on Spanish public radio.

The executive will hold a crisis committee meeting chaired by Pedro Sánchez this afternoon to monitor the effects of the storm.

Puente ruled out that the Spanish government will take over the coordination of the emergency, as authority in this regard belongs to the Valencian government. 

Meanwhile, Spain's defence minister, Margarita Robles, said that since the early hours of Friday, 500 more soldiers have joined the areas affected.

These 500 add to the 1,205 Military Emergencies Unit soldiers who were already working in the area, making 1,700 in the area, with more to come on Saturday.

Displaced residents travel to Valencia

Residents affected by the flood in the region of Horta Sud, in the Valencian region, are traveling en masse to the city of Valencia to buy food and drinking water.

Most towns are still not guaranteed basic supplies such as electricity, water, or gas, and no products or shops are open.

Dozens of people are leaving towns such as Paiporta, Catarroja, Benetússer, or the Torre neighborhood to cross the Túria river with carts and get closer to Valencia.

"I went into supermarkets to take everything I could for subsistence," Sandra Enguidos, a resident of Catarroja, told the Catalan News Agency. 

People asked not to go to affected areas by car

Emergency services have asked people not to take their car to help the affected areas.

"Please do not travel in vehicles even to come and help the areas affected by the flood," they said in a post on the social network 'X'.

They say that access to some roads are collapsing, making it difficult for emergency services to do their work.

Although they appreciate the help people are offering, they note that travel by vehicle should be avoided.

On the other hand, faced with the wave of solidarity in some localities, the Valencian government has enabled five WhatsApp channels to coordinate voluntary aid.