Valencia declared disaster area

Press, 25 October 1982, Page 8

Valencia declared disaster area

NZPA-Reuter Madrid The Spanish Government yesterday declared the fruitgrowing Valencia region a disaster area after devastating floods in which dozens of people have died. A Government spokesman SAld that nonnln had died

said mat zs people had died and another 16 were missing after the four-dav floods. The

police earlier reported that 43 people had died and 28 were missing. Newspapers said that the death toll could reach 50.

The spokesman, speaking after a Cabinet meeting had discussed emergency aid to the flood-ravaged provinces of Valencia. Murcia. Alicante and Albacete, safd that a full estimate of damage was not yet available. But local Agriculture Min-

istry officials said that damage to crops could run into several hundred million dollars.

Losses in the Valencia region alone, where about 90,000 hectares of citrus groves and 35,000 hectares of vegetables were affected, could run to more than SNZSI4 million, they said. The sun came out over the flooded regions yesterday as the rain moved north and eased.

As the water began to recede, road and telephone links were gradually being restored, and special trains and convoys of lorries rushed in food, clothing and drinking water.

The Government spokesman said that businesses and local councils would be able to get low-interest loans for reconstruction, and families who had lost their homes would also be helped.