Spain is searching for bodies after floods claimed at least 158 ​​lives

BARRIO DE LA TORRE, Spain (AP) — Emergency crews searched for bodies in broken down cars and waterlogged buildings Thursday as residents salvaged what they could from their destroyed homes monstrous flash floods At least 158 ​​people died in Spain, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone.

Further horror emerged Thursday from the rubble and pervasive layers of mud left behind by the walls of water that caused Spain's deadliest natural disaster in living memory. The damage caused by the storm late Tuesday and early Wednesday was reminiscent of the aftermath of a tsunami that left survivors picking up debris while mourning their loved ones.

Cars piled up like toppled dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items – all submerged in mud that covered the streets in dozens of municipalities in Valencia, a region south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.

An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims may be found.

“Unfortunately there are dead people in some vehicles,” Spain's Transport Minister Óscar Puente said early Thursday, before the death toll shot up from 95 on Wednesday evening.

Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and created rivers that flowed through homes and businesses, carrying cars, people, and anything else in their path. The floods destroyed bridges and made roads unrecognizable.

Luís Sánchez, a welder, said he rescued several people trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of the city of Valencia. The road quickly turned into a floating graveyard with hundreds of vehicles lying on it.

“I saw bodies floating by. I called out, but nothing,” Sánchez said. “The firefighters took in the older people first when they were able to get in. I come from close and tried to help and save people. People were crying everywhere, they were trapped.”

Regional authorities said late Wednesday that rescuers using helicopters had rescued about 70 people stranded on roofs and in cars, but ground crews were far from finished.

“We are searching house by house,” Ángel Martínez, one of 1,000 soldiers helping with the rescue effort, told Spanish national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.

An Associated Press journalist saw rescuers removing seven body bags from an underground parking garage in the Barrio de la Torre.

“Our priority is to find the victims and missing people so that we can help end the suffering of their families,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said after a meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday, the first of three official ones days of mourning.

An “extraordinary” deluge

Spain's Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the strongest flash flood in recent memory. Scientists link it to climate changewhich is also responsible for ever higher temperatures and droughts in Spain and the USA Warming of the Mediterranean.

Human-caused climate change has doubled the chances of a storm like the flooding in Valencia this week, according to a report Partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, comprised of dozens of international scientists studying the role of global warming in extreme weather.

Spain suffered from a nearly two-year drought, which meant that at the time of flooding the ground was so hard that it could not absorb the rain, leading to flash floods.

The violent weather event surprised regional government officials. According to the Spanish Meteorological Service, it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian city of Chiva than in the previous 20 months.

A man cried as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his house in Catarroja, south of Valencia. It looked like a bomb had exploded inside, destroying furniture and belongings and removing the paint from some walls.

In Paiporta, Mayor Maribel Albalat said on Thursday that at least 62 people had died in the community of 25,000 around the city of Valencia.

“(Paiporta) never has floods, we never have problems like that. And we found a lot of older people in the city center,” Albalat told RTVE. “Plus, a lot of people came to get their cars out of the garage… it was a real trap.”

Farms damaged

While communities near the city of Valencia suffered the most, the storms unleashed their violence across large parts of the southern and eastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula. Two deaths were confirmed in the neighboring Castile-La Mancha region and one in southern Andalusia.

Greenhouses and farms across southern Spain, known as Europe's Garden for its exported produce, were also destroyed by heavy rains and floods. The storms triggered an unusual tornado in Valencia and a hailstorm in Andalusia that left holes in cars. Houses as far south-west of Malaga in Andalusia remained without water.

Further north, heavy rain continued on Thursday as Spain's weather agency issued warnings for several counties in Castellón in the eastern Valencia region and Tarragona in Catalonia, as well as southwest Cádiz.

“This storm front is still with us,” the prime minister said. “Stay at home and follow the official advice and you will help save lives.”

Frustration is brewing as residents scramble for basic supplies

As the shock wore off, anger grew over the authorities' handling of the crisis, both for theirs and theirs Late warnings of impending flooding and the chaotic relief response.

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

About 150,000 people in Valencia were without power on Wednesday, but about half had power on Thursday. An unknown number of people had no running water and relied on whatever bottled water they could find.

The region remained partially isolated with several roads cut off and train routes disrupted, including the high-speed link to Madrid. Officials said repairing the damaged line would take two to three weeks.

And as emergency services focused on recovering the dead, survivors had to provide basic supplies and clean up the mess. Volunteers helped locals move wrecked vehicles, clear trash and sweep mud.

With local services apparently overwhelmed, Valencia regional president Carlos Mazón asked on Thursday whether the Spanish army could help distribute essential goods to the population. The government in Madrid responded by promising to send 500 more soldiers, more national police and civil guards.

But necessity — and the post-apocalyptic atmosphere — led some to enter abandoned stores.

State police arrested 39 people for looting on Wednesday. The Civil Guard said it arrested 11 people for thefts at shopping centers, while its officers were also deployed to stop people from stealing cars.

Some people said they had to steal supplies, especially those who didn't have running water or a way to get to the supplies that weren't destroyed.

“We are not thieves. I work as a cleaner at the school for the local council. But we have to eat. Look what I'm taking with me: baby food for the baby,” said Nieves Vargas at a local supermarket, whose doors had been blown aside by the water and which was left unattended by staff. “What can I give the child if we don’t have electricity.”

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Wilson reported from Barcelona, ​​Spain, and Leon reported from Valencia. Teresa Medrano in Madrid and Seth Borenstein in Washington, DC contributed.