MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's national guard on Tuesday asked relatives of people missing in deadly floods to provide DNA samples to identify bodies, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was earmarking 10.6 billion euros ($11.6 billion) to help victims.
More than 200 people died after heavy rains last week caused waterways to overflow, creating flash floods that surged through suburbs south of the city of Valencia, sweeping away cars and bridges and flooding properties and underground car parks.
"There are still missing persons to be located, homes and businesses destroyed, buried under the mud and many people suffering severe shortages," Sanchez said in a press conference in Madrid. "We have to keep working."
The government has declined to say how many people are missing almost a week on from the disaster. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said only that it was a "significant number" and that in the absence of clear information, it was "best not to specify".
At least 217 people died in Valencia, Castile La Mancha and Andalusia, but only 111 have been identified so far.
The aid will include 838 million euros in direct cash handouts to small businesses and freelance workers affected by the disaster and 5 billion euros of state-guaranteed loans, while the national government will finance 100% of the clean-up costs incurred by local governments and half of the repair to infrastructure, Sanchez said.
More than 100,000 cars were damaged by the floods, Sonia Luque, coordinator of the Network of Road Assistance Companies (REAC), said.
'IT'S A TSUNAMI'
Hector, a police inspector speaking in Paiporta, one of the worst-hit neighbourhoods, said he had experienced plenty of flooding in nearby Alicante but nothing like this.
"This isn't a flash flood - it's a tsunami," Hector, who declined to give his last name, said.
In the face of criticism and anger at the slow response to the disaster, Sanchez said the government had deployed nearly 15,000 police and military to help clear flood-affected areas, along with hundreds of forestry officials, forensic scientists, customs agents and heavy machinery to clear roads and rubble.
Defending the government's response, Sanchez said he had not called a state of emergency, which would have given Madrid control of the crisis, because it would have been less efficient.
He said personnel had been ready to be deployed from the first minute but had required the approval of the regional government run by the conservative People's Party.
Valencia's regional leader Carlos Mazon said on Monday the delay in warning people was caused by the Hydrographic Confederation of Jucar (CHJ), which measures the flow of rivers and ravines for the state, cancelling a planned alert three times.
The CHJ fired back that it does not issue flood risk alerts, which are the responsibility of Spain's regional governments. ($1 = 0.9175 euros)
(Reporting by Charlie Devereux and David Latona, editing by Inti Landauro, Aislinn Laing and Sharon Singleton)
