Rescuers are scrambling to find survivors of Spain’s once-in-a-generation floods that have killed at least 95 people and left cities submerged in flash floods with overturned cars littering the streets.
About 1,000 soldiers joined police and firefighters on Thursday in the search for bodies in the Valencia region as three days of mourning began in the country.
The death toll will rise because “there are many missing people,” Minister of Territorial Policies Angel Victor Torres said on Wednesday.
The rain of the year came within hours of the eastern city of Valencia and the surrounding region on Tuesday, sending torrents of water and mud into towns and cities.
Rescuers were rushed to pull survivors from the roof using helicopters while others searched houses, others wading through neck-deep water.
Emergency services rescued 200 people on the ground and 70 were evacuated from the air on Wednesday, said Valencia regional government official Carlos Mazon.
Emergency services in Valencia announced a provisional death toll of 92, adding that bodies were still being recovered. Two people were killed in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha and another victim was reported in Andalusia to the south, officials said.
A sea of ​​piled-up cars and muddy streets covered Sedavi, a suburb of the Mediterranean city of Valencia.
Officials in the Valencia region announced that survivors were sheltered in temporary shelters such as fire stations.
Rail and air transport remained severely disrupted.
The number of floods is the deadliest in Spain since 1973 when an estimated 150 people died in the southeastern provinces of Granada, Murcia and Almeria.
Scientists have warned that extreme weather events like the one that hit Valencia are becoming more intense, longer lasting and more frequent as a result of human-caused climate change.
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