Spain flood death toll tops 200, more troops join rescue

PAIPORTA: Rescuers on Friday raised the death toll from Spain’s worst floods in a generation to 205, as the government deployed more troops in an increasingly desperate search for survivors.

The floods are the European country’s deadliest such disaster in decades.

The organization coordinating emergency services in the worst-hit region of eastern Valencia said 202 people had been confirmed dead there.

Officials in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia had already announced a total of three deaths in their regions.

Rescuers equipped with drones and sniffer dogs waded through the water and searched the wreckage for dozens of people who authorities believe are still missing.

The government is deploying an additional 500 troops to the affected areas to augment the 1,200 already on the ground for search, rescue and logistics work.

Some cut-off areas remain without water, food or power three days after the floods began and many roads and rail lines remain inaccessible, raising fears the death toll will rise.

According to the national meteorological service AEMET, the city west of the city of Valencia recorded 491 millimeters of rain in just eight hours on Tuesday — almost equal to a year’s worth.

People are desperate

Police said on Friday they had arrested 50 people for incidents including theft from cars and a jewelery shop.

The courthouse in the city of Valencia was turned into a morgue, where medical workers wearing gowns carried stretchers covered in white sheets.

An army of hundreds of volunteers set out from Valencia on Friday armed with shovels, buckets and shopping trolleys loaded with food and nappies to help distressed neighbors in the city’s flooded suburbs. AFP saw a reporter.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hailed “the boundless solidarity and devotion of Spanish society” to X and promised help “for as long as it takes.”

But Valencia’s regional government urged people not to travel to the worst-hit areas, saying emergency services could not reach them and roads were at risk of collapsing.

AEMET put part of the southern Andalusia region on the highest alert level for torrential rain on Friday and maintained warnings for Valencia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.