The isolated depression at high levels (DANA) that has affected large areas of the country, with intense and abundant rains, begins to subside, but has left at least five deaths in the last 72 hours (three, in Toledo), in addition to three disappeared and thousands of incidents: flooded homes, river floods, collapsed roads and chaos in transport, especially in the railway. The Aemet foresees little rain, temperatures without changes and haze in some areas after the passage of the storm.
The emergency services of the Community of Madrid and Toledo have resumed the search for the disappeared early this Tuesday morning, even with drones.
Two hikers died on Saturday in the Gorgol de Tramacastilla de Tena ravine, in Sallent de Gállego (Huesca). To these deaths we must add three more in Toledo: a twenty-something in Casarrubios del Monte, trapped in a flooded elevator in a garage, a resident of Arroyo Gadea and a driver swept away by water in Bargas. In addition, the possible death of another person in a nearby area is being investigated.
Three people are still missing. The first is a woman who is looking for herself in a rough area of ??Bargas (Toledo). The second is a resident of Aldea del Fresno (Madrid) whose vehicle was swept away by a flood. His wife and two of his children were also traveling in the car. The woman and one of the children were rescued alive. His other son, 10 years old, was saved by climbing up a tree, as is also explained on this page.
The third missing person is an 83-year-old man, who left the residence where he lived in the Madrid town of Villamanta and was swept away by the current. Hundreds of people were rescued from rooftops. Only in the town of Escalona, ??in Toledo, one of the most affected provinces, a dozen people had to take refuge on rooftops to escape the waters.
In addition to the problems in rail transport, which experienced new cancellations yesterday, several highways in Tarragona, Madrid and Toledo woke up affected by cuts, which continued until well into the day. The impacts in Tarragona focused mainly on the C-12, near Tortosa. The calls to caution on all roads were constant by the General Directorate of Traffic.
Renfe got up overwhelmed by the criticism – which it considers unfair – of its lack of agility and reflexes. A company spokesperson recalled, without citing Iryo, that Renfe was not the only operator affected by the storm incidents and explained that the DANA forced the mobilization of more than a thousand workers in the operations management centers and in the teams Customer service in person and by phone. Renfe assures that it has issued more than 65,000 messages (sms and emails) warning of “possible effects from the storm”.
This work, however, was overshadowed by childish errors that reinforce the idea of ??a lack of reflexes, such as the institutional tweet that the company issues every morning, at 7 a.m., in which it says good morning in all the official languages. of the State and that yesterday was not interrupted or qualified. Many passengers, who saw their journey stretched out for many hours or who were diverted far from their destination, did not understand that message, as if it were just another Monday, and not a Monday after a chaotic weekend.
According to Renfe, more than 50,000 passengers have taken advantage of the possibility of canceling or exchanging their tickets at no cost since Sunday. Adif, the railway infrastructure manager, claims to be “working as quickly as possible to repair the damage”, which yesterday still affected passengers, despite the slow return to normality.
According to the latest information updated by the company, circulation has resumed on the Madrid-Andalusia line, but “with speed limitations” because the line “has suffered damage to the signaling and infrastructure management systems” that requires to the fact that the circulation develops “in a restrictive way” (two trains per hour and direction), with “irregularity and delays”.
Circulation has also been restored in the Mediterranean corridor, which was cut off the day before and greatly affected by flooding between the stations of l’Aldea-Amposta and Ulldecona. Normality, however, will still take time to arrive and circulation is done “with speed limitation”. On the conventional track, the trains “gradually recover their usual frequencies”, although it is still necessary to provide alternative road service at some points.
The employers of the insurers have recalled that those affected can consult the Naturally Protected website to find out which company or organization they can request the compensation that corresponds to them. A piece of information illustrates the importance of the claims that are hanging over the sector: an important firm attended more than 2,757 claims notices from Sunday midnight to Monday noon.
