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Spain’s government will send 10,000 soldiers and police to Valencia after deadly floods
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Spain’s government will send 10,000 soldiers and police to Valencia after deadly floods

MADRID (AP) — Spain is sending 5,000 more soldiers and 5,000 more police to the eastern region of Valencia after deadly floods this week killed more than 200 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday.

So far, 205 bodies have been recovered – 202 in Valencia, two in neighboring Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia in the south – in Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory.

Rescuers were still searching for bodies in stuck cars and waterlogged buildings on Saturday, four days after monster floods swept away everything in their path in eastern Spain. An unknown number of people remain missing.

Thousands of volunteers are helping to clear the thick mud covering streets, homes and businesses in the worst-hit cities.

About 2,000 military personnel are currently involved in the emergency work, as well as nearly 2,500 Civil Guard gendarmes — who carried out 4,500 rescues during the floods — and 1,800 national police.