Spain floods: Horrific details emerge of how Valencia victims died

CNN
—

The full horror of the torrential floods in Spain began to emerge on Friday, just as fresh rainfall lashed the southern parts of the country.

The storm has killed at least 205 people, 202 of whom are in the worst-hit region. Valenciastate emergency services in the region on Friday.

It marks Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in decades.

The death toll is expected to rise as emergency workers struggle to rescue those trapped and recover the bodies. Authorities warned on Friday that roads have collapsed in some areas where emergency services cannot access.

The country has experienced significant autumn storms in recent years, but nothing comes close to the devastation wrought in the past few days.

More details are emerging about the devastation in the Valencia region, where residents are reporting large amounts of damage and horrific encounters with the rapidly rising waters. A courthouse was turned into a temporary morgue in the region’s capital, Valencia city.

In the city’s La Torre neighborhood, where water rose to chest height, volunteers continue to search for more missing people.

Rescue teams discovered the bodies of seven people in an underground parking garage on Thursday, according to national broadcaster RTVE, citing police.

The father of one of those who died in the parking garage, a local policeman, told Spain El Mundo the newspaper that residents had rushed to move their cars, but the water rose faster than people expected and trapped them. Another woman was dragged into the parking lot by the moving water and died, he said.

The town of Paiporta, Valencia, where at least 62 people died, was described by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE as the “ground zero of the tragedy”.

A witness caught in the flood there told RTVE that he saw several cars floating past him with people begging for help. Many motorists were trapped on a highway and were swept away in their cars as the road appeared to merge with a nearby river. A bridge also collapsed in the area.

At least six people died in a nursing home on the outskirts of the city, Paiporta’s mayor told Spanish national television. While staff managed to get most of the elderly to the first floor, they were unable to save everyone.

Mud still fills the streets in many areas, and the mayor of Valencia shared photos of the local clean-up work on Friday. “Vehicles are being removed, the square is being cleaned and food and water are being collected,” Mayor María José Catalá said of La Torre.

Parts of Spain continued to experience intense rainfall on Friday, with authorities issuing a red warning overnight for the Huelva coast in Andalusia, which saw 140 mm (5.5 inches) of rain in just 12 hours. Orange and yellow warnings are also in place in isolated parts of Valencia.