The torrential rains that have devastated Valencia have provoked a flood of solidarity. Thousands of citizens are on the move to the affected areas to help. However, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazónand the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaskahave insisted on the importance of volunteers not collapsing the streets: “It is imperative that they stay in their homes.”. Similarly, Mazón has warned that they do not rule out taking additional measures in the coming hours to “prevent them from obstructing these roads beyond the recommendations. Not only for vehicles, but also for pedestrians despite the good faith”.
The wave of solidarity can be counterproductive. For this reason, the president of the Generalitat has made an appeal to the “responsibility” of the population so that they do not circulate with their cars with the aim of “not to interrupt or hinder” the movement of emergency personnel. He also appeals to the citizens who are “taking to the streets with the best will”. He asks that those who have not yet left their homes to help, do not do so. And for those who are already in the streets, he has announced that a reception center for volunteers will be opened in Valencia to prevent them from “obstructing the public road”.
After the meeting of the Emergency Coordination Center of the Generalitat (Cecopi), Grande-Marlaska has reiterated Mazón’s request. That the mobility be as restricted as possible to “guarantee that the public means can carry out their work in the most efficient way”. According to the minister, the troops of the Military Emergency Unit have already been able to access many very complicated areas and have been able to reach the most vulnerable areas. the Civil Guard has rescued more than 4,500 people.
The Emergency Coordination Center has also asked through the social network X to avoid traveling by car so as not to “hinder the work of emergency vehicles” despite the fact that “the help of volunteers is essential”. The objective is, as the president of the Generalitat has stressed, “to be able to move forward at the fastest possible pace”, especially this weekend.
No figures of missing persons because “they would be misleading”.
On the missing, Mazón has assured that he cannot offer official figures because “they would be misleading”. The x-ray of the moment is changing and asks the citizens who have called the 900 365 112the telephone number for missing relatives, to communicate whether people have turned up “so that we can update the figures”. There are “countless technicians updating that figure constantly,” he assures, but he has not been able to give an approximation.