Spain sends thousands more troops to flood-hit Valencia region

Hopes of finding survivors slim; 211 killed but dozens still unaccounted for

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Spain will deploy 10,000 more troops and police officers to the eastern Valencia region devastated by historic floods that have killed 211 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Nov 2.

water Hopes of finding survivors more than three days after torrents of mud-filled submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure were slim in the European country's deadliest such disaster in decades.

Almost all of the deaths have been recorded in the eastern Valencia region where thousands of soldiers, police officers and civil guards were clearing debris and mud in the search for bodies.

Mr Sanchez said in a televised address that the disaster was the second-deadliest flood in Europe this century and announced a huge increase in the security forees for relief works.

The government had accepted the Valencia region leader's request for 5,000 more troops and informed him of a further deployment of 5,000 police officers and civil guards, Mr Sanchez said.

That will take the total number of troops and police in the affected areas to about 17,000.

Spain was carrying out its largest deployment of army and security force personnel in peacetime, he added.

"The government is going to mobilise all the resources necessary as long as they are needed," he said.

Restoring order and distributing aid to destroyed towns and villages some of which have been cut off from food, water and power for days is a priority.