Latest floods in Spain: Death toll soars to over 200 in Valencia as fresh flood fears grow in Huelva

Mari Carmen Perez received a text message from local authorities in Spain warning of a possible flash flood shortly after water rushed through her door.

By the time Perez’s phone rang, water had already poured into the kitchen, living room and bathroom, forcing her and her family to evacuate to the second floor.

“They had no idea what was going on,” Perez, a 56-year-old cleaner, said by phone from Valencia’s Barrio de la Torre on Thursday. “Everything is ruined. People here, we’ve never seen anything like this.”

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This weekend’s match between Valencia and Real Madrid has been postponed due to heavy flooding that has killed at least 95 people in the Spanish region.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced that La Liga matches, women’s matches and youth matches scheduled to take place in the Valencia region have been cancelled.

Valencia has been declared a “disaster area” by Spain’s prime minister, with authorities warning against non-essential travel to the region.

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Majorca’s tourist town of Palma is bracing for heavy rain and flooding as a deadly storm that has killed more than 200 people heads towards the Balearic Islands.

Locals and tourists have been urged to stay indoors after Spain’s National Weather Service warned that the brunt of the storm was heading towards Mallorca.

Parma’s first deputy mayor, Javier Bonet, urged people to leave their homes only “if absolutely necessary.”

“We are not issuing a red alert, but it is essential to warn the public to avoid greater risks,” he said.

A foreign teacher living in the southern part of Valencia, Spain, said he was unable to leave his town because he was “surrounded by water” after flash flooding occurred in the area.

John Fahey, 55, who lives in a seaside town called Cullera, also reported that supermarkets were out of food and no new supply was expected for some time.

At least 158 ​​people have died in Spain’s worst floods this century, with rescue workers searching for bodies in stranded cars and flooded buildings.

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Dani Solni, 22, a resident of Paiporta, the epicenter of the disaster, described the serious situation. “This town is a cemetery, bodies are trapped under 1.5 meters of mud and under cars,” he said. Independent.

The final death toll is feared to reach 400, with survivors describing a “tsunami” of victims trapped in cars and anger at authorities’ poor planning and slow response. .

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With so many people coming to help in the worst-hit areas, authorities are asking people not to drive or walk as they are blocking the roads needed by emergency services. are.

“It is very important that you return home,” said local president Carlos Mazin, thanking the volunteers for their goodwill. The local government asked volunteers to gather at a large cultural center in the city on Saturday morning to arrange and transport workers.

Electricity was finally restored to Chiba’s 20,000 residents on Thursday night, but there is still no running water. Local governments are distributing water, food and essential supplies to flash flood-hit towns across Valencia, and the Red Cross is leveraging its vast aid network to assist those affected.

In Chiba, Civil Guard police officers are searching for bodies in collapsed houses and ravines, as well as conducting direct traffic. Firefighters are working to secure the building. Approximately 500 soldiers have been deployed to the Valencia region to deliver water and essential supplies to people in need, with more to come.

Mud cakes her boots and splatters on her leggings and the gloves holding her broom. There are brown spots on her cheeks.

The mud covering Alicia Montero is the distinctive uniform of the improvised volunteer army that shoveled and cleared the mud and debris that flooded the small Valencian town of Chiva on Friday, the third day after flash floods hit the area. . Spain’s worst natural disaster in living memory left at least 205 people dead, countless others missing and countless lives left in tatters.

As police and emergency workers continue a grueling search for bodies, authorities appear overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, and survivors are relying on the strength of volunteers who have stepped in to fill the gap.

Hundreds of people rushed by car and on foot from the city of Valencia to the suburbs to help, but Montero and his friends are locals from Chiva, where at least seven people died when Tuesday’s storm raged. .

“I never thought something like this would happen. It’s emotional to see your town look like this,” Montero said. “We’ve always had fall storms, but nothing like this.”

Deadly floods piled cars like toys on the streets, engulfed houses and covered entire neighborhoods in sludge and debris.

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