UTIEL, Spain: Spanish rescue teams scoured flooded homes and stranded cars on Thursday (Oct 31) for those still missing after devastating floods in the Valencia region that killed at least 95 people, with forecasts of more bad weather prompting storm alerts further north.
Local authorities have not disclosed how many people are still unaccounted for after Europe’s deadliest floods in years, but Defence Minister Margarita Robles said the death toll was likely to rise.
Rescuers used helicopters to winch survivors to safety in areas that were still flooded and combed through thick silt and the wreckage of vehicles in search of bodies.
Diggers and tractors equipped with water pumps were brought in to clear debris from the streets, as residents took stock of the destruction with disbelief, television footage showed.
The floods battered Valencia’s infrastructure, sweeping away bridges, roads and rail tracks and submerging farmland in a region that produces about two-thirds of the citrus fruit grown in Spain, a leading global exporter of oranges.
“There’s nothing left,” said student Natalia Perez, 21, as she surveyed a badly damaged historic bridge in Torrent near the city of Valencia, Spain’s third-largest. “This bridge was gorgeous.”
About 80km of roads in the eastern region were seriously damaged or impassable, said Transport Minister Oscar Puente. Many were blocked by abandoned cars.
“Unfortunately there are dead bodies in some vehicles,” Puente told reporters, adding that it would take two to three weeks to re-establish the high-speed train connection between Valencia and Madrid.
