Spain’s worst flooding in generations has killed at least 158 people and rescuers are trying to find survivors.
More than 1,200 workers were deployed on rescue missions with the help of drones on Thursday as rain continued to threaten parts of the country.
“The most important thing now is to save as many lives as possible,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told victims during a visit to affected communities.
But in some of the towns hardest hit by Tuesday night’s flooding, bodies were being pulled from the mud and debris.
At least 155 people died in Valencia, two others died in Castilla-La Mancha in the west of the province, and a British man died in Andalusia.
A river burst its banks in the Valencian town of Paipota, killing at least 40 people so far.
“We all knew someone who died,” said pharmacist Miguel Guerrilla, standing outside his pharmacy, which was covered in thick mud.
“This is a nightmare.”
On Thursday, the BBC saw funeral homes and funeral vans pulling bodies from the streets, while cars swept away by the storm surge piled up on nearby roads.
Motorists recounted the horror of being trapped by surging tides on Tuesday, which turned highways and streets into rivers, with many survivors climbing onto trees or bridges to escape.
ReutersOfficials have not revealed how many people are still missing but said the number is “significant” and the death toll rose by about 60 on Thursday.
More than 90 people died on Wednesday alone after heavy rains and flash floods severely affected Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha in Andalucia and as far south as Málaga.
The town of Chiva near Valencia received a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours, according to Spanish weather agency Aemet.
As further rain warnings were issued for the south and east of the country on Thursday, King Felipe VI warned that the emergency was “not over yet” and Prime Minister Sanchez warned citizens to take shelter if necessary.
Meanwhile, in flood-affected areas, hundreds of people took shelter in temporary shelters and began the slow and arduous task of clearing streets and restoring homes and businesses.
Much of the road and rail network connecting Valencia to the rest of Spain remains severed.
Spain began an official three-day period of national mourning on Thursday, with flags flying at half-mast and minutes of silence observed at government buildings.
Public anger is growing over a developed country’s failure to warn many communities of flood dangers in time.
Some have questioned whether the warning issued by disaster management authorities came too late.
Civil protection agencies deployed during national disasters did not issue an alert until 20:15 local time on Tuesday night, when several places in Valencia had been flooded for several hours.
Authorities called the downpours and flooding “unprecedented.”
There are many factors that cause flooding, but warming due to climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.
ReutersWeather researchers have determined that the likely main cause of the heavy rainfall is “gota fria” – a natural weather event that hits Spain in autumn and winter when cold air falls over the warm waters of the Mediterranean.
However, scientists told the BBC that rising global temperatures are causing clouds to carry more rain.
Global temperatures have risen by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the industrial era and will continue to rise unless governments around the world drastically cut emissions.
“There is no doubt that climate change is exacerbating these explosive downpours,” said Dr. Friedrich Otto of Imperial College London, who leads an international team of scientists trying to understand the role warming plays in such events. Role.
The death toll from Spain’s floods is the worst since 1973, when at least 150 people were estimated to have died in the southeastern provinces of Granada, Murcia and Almeria.
