Spain defeats 7,500 soldiers in flood areas

The army deployed about 5,000 soldiers over the weekend to help distribute food and water, clean roads, and protect shops and property from robbers. About 2,500 other soldiers would be sent forward, Defence Minister Margarita Robles told state radio channel RNE.

A battleship of about 104 infantry soldiers and trucks of food and water was approaching the port of Valencia, while a fierce hailstorm struck Barcelona, some 200 miles [300 km] north.

The search-saving teams continued on Monday for the bodies of victims in underground garages around a parking lot for nearly 5 thousand cars in Bonitaire's shopping mall, near the airport in Valencia, as well as at the mouth of rivers where the bodies of the dead could be gathered.

The number of victims from the deadliest floods in Spain's modern history reached 217 on Sunday almost everyone in the Vallencia region and over 60 of them on the outskirts of the town of Paiporta.

Residents' anger focused on reports delayed by authorities on flood risks and delayed responses allegedly made by emergency services.

On Sunday, some residents in Paiporta threw mud at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, King Felipe and his wife, shouting: <x0... assassin!”

Transport Minister Oscar Puente said Sunday that the death rate has stabilised, as all victims found on the surface have been identified.

Tuesday and Wednesday's torrential clouds caused the flow of rivers, flooding through the streets and the first floors of buildings, and taking with them the cars and walls of buildings into the mud waves.

These were the devastating floods in Europe in the last five decades.

Although rainfall has continued during the rest of the week, there were no new massive floods in the area. The weather agency circulated a warning Monday morning for Barcelona, while hailstorms and heavy rainfall hit Spain's second largest city.

Some of Sunday's protesters wore clothes on symbols of extreme right organisations, often holding protests against the left government. Defence Minister Robles said the situation was being politically exploited by extremist groups. /voa