Spain floods latest: Deaths soar over 200 in Valencia amid fresh fears of flooding and new rain alert issued

A terrified Valencia flood victim has revealed the scale of the devastation after heavy floodwaters engulfed her home in a matter of minutes.

Alba Paredes Borja is from the Spanish town of Alfafar, one of the areas hardest hit by the deadly storm, where local authorities are calling for urgent help in receiving food, water and medical supplies.

“I’m terrified. Everything looks apocalyptic,” she told The Independent. The floods – known as the “cold drop” or DANA phenomena – have claimed 158 lives, including at least three people in the municipality, leaving the city in ruins and cut off from all communication.

Salma Ouaguira reports:

As the shock dissipated, anger grew over the authorities’ handling of the crisis, both for their late warnings of the looming floods and the chaotic relief response.

Many survivors had to walk long distances in sticky mud to find food and water. Most of their cars had been destroyed and the mud, destruction and debris left by the storm made some roads unpassable. Some pushed shopping carts along sodden streets while others carried their children to keep them out of the muck.

Some 150,000 people in Valencia were without electricity on Wednesday, but roughly half had power by Thursday.

An unknown number did not have running water and were relying on whatever bottled water they could find.

The region remained partly isolated with several roads cut off and train lines interrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid. Officials said it would take two to three weeks to repair that damaged line.

And with emergency personnel focused on recovering the dead, survivors were left to find basic supplies and clean up the mess. Volunteers joined locals in moving wrecked vehicles, removing junk and sweeping mud.

With local services clearly overwhelmed, Valencia regional President Carlos Mazon on Thursday asked if Spain’s army could assist with distributing basic goods to the population. The government in Madrid responded by promising to send in 500 more soldiers, more national police and Civil Guards.

A temporary morgue has been set up in Valencia as the death toll in the region continues to rise.

Vehicles and personnel from Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) were filmed going in and out of the Feria Valencia building.

The death toll from the flash floods has now risen to 205, with 202 of the victims being in the region of Valencia alone.

The death toll from the flash floods that destroyed eastern Spain has now risen to 205.

The new number marks a sharp increase in the last official toll of 158, with 202 of the victims being in the region of Valencia alone.

The tragedy is already Spain’s worst flood-related disaster in modern history, and the death toll is now the highest for a single country in Europe since Romania’s floods killed 209 people in 1970.

An extra 500 soliders are being deployed to the Valencia region to boost rescue efforts as many more people remain missing.

More than 1,000 Spanish soldiers were initially deployed when flash floods hit eastern Spain earlier this week, but more are set to join.

Spain’s defence minister, Margarita Robles, said on Friday. “Their missions include helping to dig out people who may be in basements or lower floors – unfortunately there are a lot of them – and helping to pump out water [from roads] to allow transportation so that food and water can reach certain populations.”

Effective flood warning systems could help to avoid the level of destruction that has occurred in the Valencia region of Spain this week, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday.

“We do need to ensure that the early warnings reach those who need them,” WMO official Clare Nullis told a regular UN briefing. “We need to ensure that early warnings lead to informed early action.”

Nullis declined to comment on whether Madrid had acted too slowly in warning residents about the floods, saying only that it was something that “Spanish authorities need to examine”.

Hundreds of volunteers have been pictured walking towards the La Torre neighborhood to help people affected by the flash flooding.

At least 158 people are dead after Spain was struck by the worst floods in recent memory that submerged towns, toppled bridges and cut entire communities off from the outside world.

The deadly floods left cars piled up like toys in streets, swallowed homes, and covered entire neighbourhoods in sludge and debris.

Muddy rivers swept away everything in their path – roads, houses and key infrastructure.

Thousands of people are still facing power and water cuts and shortages of basic goods, especially in the eastern region, the worst affected.

Here’s all we know about the devastating floods, the causes, and the scale of the impact.