Fresh downpours sparked transport chaos in Spain on Monday, as anger spreads following the worst flash floods in the country's modern history. Barcelona's El Prat airport, Spain's second-busiest, said 50 flights were cancelled or delayed and 17 diverted on Monday, while the city closed some flooded metro stations and regional trains were suspended.
Images on social media showed cars ploughing through flooded roads in the Barcelona suburbs of Castelldefels and Gava and barefoot travellers wading through water that had seeped into El Prat. The death toll from Spain's floods stands at 217, almost all of them in the eastern Valencia region, with an unknown number of people remain missing and the country bracing for the discovery of more corpses.
The army sent about 5,000 soldiers over the weekend to help distribute food and water, clean up streets and guard against looters. A further 2,500 will join them, Defence Minister Margarita Robles told the state-owned radio station RNE. A warship carrying 104 marine infantry soldiers as well as lorries with food and water was approaching Valencia port as a strong hailstorm pummelled Barcelona some 300km to the north.
The national weather service Aemet announced the end of the emergency for Valencia but torrential rain struck Catalonia, where residents received telephone alerts urging caution. Regional authorities warned of potential landslides and more flooding. Spain is also grappling with the aftermath of an extraordinary outburst of popular anger in which crowds heckled and hurled mud at King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The Civil Guard has opened an investigation into the chaos in the town of Paiporta that cut short their visit on Sunday, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told the public broadcaster TVE. He blamed "marginal groups" for instigating the situation, during which mud was spattered over the monarch's face and clothes and a window of Mr Sanchez's car was broken.
The incident underscored growing anger at the authorities' preparation for and reaction to the catastrophe. Experts have questioned the efficacy of the warning systems that failed to alert the population in time, and the speed of the response.
"They were saying 'alert for water', but they should have said it was a flood," Teresa Gisbert, 62, told AFP in the destroyed town of Sedavi, saying she had "lost everything". Thousands of soldiers, police officers, civil guards and firefighters spent a sixth day distributing aid and clearing mud and debris as the search for bodies goes on.
However, relief only reached some towns days after the disaster and in many cases volunteers were the first to provide food, water, sanitation and cleaning equipment. On Monday divers concentrated their search for missing bodies in garages and a multistorey car park in the town of Aldaia. They also scanned the mouths of rivers, where currents may have deposited more bodies. "With drones we can send them inside the garages and have a first visual of what's going on," police spokesman Ricardo Gutierrez said.
The storm caught many victims in their vehicles on roads and in underground spaces such as car parks, tunnels and garages, where rescue operations are particularly difficult. Local authorities in Valencia extended travel restrictions for another two days, cancelled classes and urged residents to work from home to facilitate the work of the emergency services.
Storms coming off the Mediterranean are common at this time of year, but scientists have warned human-induced climate change is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of extreme weather events. Rescuers used drones and water pumps to search and clear underground car parks and garages.
Opposition politicians accused the left-wing central government of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescuers, while the central government has said regional authorities are responsible for civil protection. The anger vented against all sides reflects a general disillusionment with the political class, analysts at Eurointelligence wrote in a note on Monday.
"If the aftermath turns into a big finger-pointing exercise, it will probably deepen that anti-politics sentiment," it said. Lack of clarity over the numbers of dead and missing has added to the frustration. A helpline has been set up for people to report relatives missing, with the government saying "dozens and dozens" are still unaccounted for.
Sonia Luque, co-ordinator of the Network of Road Assistance Companies (REAC), said more than 100,000 cars have been damaged. It was the worst flood-related disaster in Europe in five decades.
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
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- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
Our legal consultant
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Los Angeles, from Dh4,975 return, including taxes. The flight time is 16 hours. Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico and Southwest all fly direct from Los Angeles to San Jose del Cabo from Dh1,243 return, including taxes. The flight time is two-and-a-half hours.
The trip
Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic’s eight-day Whales Wilderness itinerary costs from US$6,190 (Dh22,736) per person, twin share, including meals, accommodation and excursions, with departures in March and April 2018.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
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more from Janine di Giovanni
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars