The Spanish Government on Thursday commenced three-day of national mourning for at least 95 people who have been confirmed dead in a rare flood disaster that hit the country on Wednesday.
The Spanish authorities also urged residents in flood-affected areas to stay indoors as rescue teams worked tirelessly to locate survivors, with rescuers using drones to search the towns severely impacted by floods near Valencia.
“Please, stay at home and heed the emergency services,” the AFP report quoted the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, as saying.
Sanchez added, “The priority right now is to save as many lives as possible,” addressing residents of Valencia and Castellon provinces.
Flags across the nation were reportedly flown at half-mast after a Mediterranean storm unleashed torrential rains and mudslides that swept away people, vehicles, and homes.
Emergency services, supported by over 1,200 troops, combed through mud-covered towns on Thursday, searching for survivors and clearing debris from roads.
Government officials warned that the death toll could rise, as many individuals remain missing and certain areas are still inaccessible to rescuers.
King Felipe VI cautioned that the emergency is “not over,” and the national weather service AEMET placed parts of the Valencia region on the highest alert level for further torrential rain.
In Sedavi, a suburb of Valencia, 69-year-old pensioner Francisco Puente fought back tears as he surveyed the devastation, with overturned cars and destroyed streets surrounding him.
“If you see it, you think: ‘Am I really seeing this? What is happening?’” he told AFP.
Abandoned vehicles were stacked like dominoes, while some residents used wooden planks to navigate the thick mud, as reported by AFP journalists in the region.
Hundreds of people are currently being housed in temporary shelters, and transport by road and rail is severely disrupted.
Transport Minister, Oscar Puente, noted that it may take up to three weeks to restore the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Valencia.
The flood disaster is said to be the deadliest flooding in Spain since 1973, when an estimated 150 people lost their lives in the southeastern provinces of Granada, Murcia, and Almeria.
