Flash flooding in Spain leaves dozens dead in its worst natural disaster in recent memory
CBSOct 23
Spain Announces €10.6B in Flood Relief
Above: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez holds a press conference in Madrid on Nov. 5, 2024 regarding the deadly floods in Valencia region, Spain. Image copyright: Burak Akbulut/Anadolu/Contributor via Getty Images
The Facts
Spain's government on Tuesday announced a €10.6B ($11.4B) relief package to help those affected by last week's floods that killed at least 217 people.
The package includes €838M ($902M) in cash payouts to small businesses and self-employed workers affected by the floods, while €5B ($5.4B) was earmarked for government-backed loans. The national government will finance all clean-up costs and half of the costs for infrastructure repair incurred by local councils.
The Spin
Left narrative
The Spanish government is doing all it can to help those affected by the flooding. That includes this relief package and also deploying more than 15K soldiers and police officers to help with recovery and rescue operations.
Right narrative
When Morocco faced an earthquake, it took the left-wing Spanish government a few hours to allocate funds to help with the response. Why has it taken over a week to make the same response available to its own people?