VALENCIA/GODELLETA, Spain — The death toll from devastating flash floods in eastern Spain climbed to 158 on Thursday (Oct 31), with rescue teams still searching for those missing in what could become Europe's worst storm-related disaster in over five decades.
People work to clear a mud-covered street with piled up cars in the aftermath of torrential rains that caused flooding, in Paiporta, Spain on Oct 31, 2024.VALENCIA/GODELLETA, Spain — The death toll from devastating flash floods in eastern Spain climbed to 158 on Thursday , with rescue teams still searching for those missing in what could become Europe's worst storm-related disaster in over five decades.
Rescue teams on Thursday discovered the bodies of eight people, including a local policeman, who had been trapped in a garage on the outskirts of the city of Valencia, Mayor Maria Jose Catala told reporters. Opposition politicians accused the central government in Madrid of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescue teams, prompting the Interior Ministry to say regional authorities were responsible for civil protection measures.
"We found a lot of elderly people inside their homes and people who went to get their cars. It was a trap," she told TVE.In Godelleta, a town 37 km west of Valencia city, Antonio Molina, 52, described how he survived by clinging to a pillar on a neighbour's porch on Tuesday as water reached his neck.
The floods have battered Valencia's infrastructure, sweeping away bridges, roads and rail tracks, and submerged farmland in a region that produces about two-thirds of Spain's citrus crops like oranges, which the country exports globally. Visiting a rescue coordination centre near Valencia city, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged people to stay at home due to the threat of more stormy weather.In the hard-hit rural town of Utiel, some 85 km inland, the Magro River burst its banks, sending up to three metres of water into the mostly single-storey homes.
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