‘They’re expecting to find more bodies’: Spain hit by worst flooding disaster for decades
At least 95 people have been killed, including a 71-year-old British man, after flash floods hit large parts of southern and eastern Spain on Wednesday.
Rainstorms that started Tuesday and continued Wednesday caused flooding stretching from Malaga to Valencia – the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory.
Spain’s national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in Valencia than it had in the preceding 20 months.
Floods of mud-coloured water tumbled vehicles down streets at high speeds, while pieces of wood swirled in the water with household items.
Emergency services are continuing to search for those missing, with the number of those unaccounted for unknown.
“We are facing a very difficult situation,” minister of territory policies Ángel Víctor Torres said. “The fact that we can’t give a number of the missing persons indicates the magnitude of the tragedy.”
A 71-year-old British man died in hospital after being rescued from his home near Alhaurin de la Torre, Malaga.
The President of the Andalusian government said the man was “suffering from hypothermia and died after suffering several cardiac arrests”.
Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers stranded atop cars.
Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed a death toll of 92 people on Wednesday. Another two casualties were reported in the neighbouring Castilla La Mancha region, while southern Andalusia reported one death.
“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel, a town in Valencia, told national broadcaster RTVE on Wednesday. He said six residents died and more are missing.
“We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 meters (9.8 feet),” he said.
Spain’s government declared three days of mourning starting Thursday.
“For those who are looking for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a televised address.
More than 1,000 soldiers were drafted into affected areas to help with the rescue operation.
As the floods receded, thick layers of mud mixed with refuse made some streets unrecognizable.
Javier Berenguer, 63, escaped his bakery in Utiel when crushing water threatened to overwhelm him. He said it rose to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) inside his business, and he fears his livelihood has been destroyed.
“I had to get out of a window as best I could because the water was already coming up to my shoulders. I took refuge on the first floor with the neighbours and I stayed there all night,” Berenguer told The Associated Press.
“It has taken everything. I have to throw everything out of the bakery, the freezers, ovens, everything.”
María Carmen Martínez, another Utiel resident, witnessed a harrowing rescue.
“It was horrible, horrible. There was a man there clinging to a fence who was falling and calling people for help,” she said. “They couldn’t help him until the helicopters came and took him away.”
Meanwhile, the mayor of one Valencia town, Paiporta, said within 10 minutes “the village was overflowing with water2.
Mayor Maribel Albalat told RTVE that over 30 people died in the town of some 25,000 people.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said dozens of towns had been flooded and asked people to exercise “great caution” and avoid moving if possible.
Relatives have been posting on social media and appealing on local television and radio to find their missing loved ones.
Spain’s national police have now set up a phone number to assist the relatives of those missing.
Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years, and the country has recovered somewhat from a severe drought this year due to rainfall.
Scientists say that increased episodes of extreme weather are likely linked to climate change.
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