This handout photo taken by the UME - Spanish Military Emergencies Unit shows Spanish rescuers taking residents on a dinghy boat following deadly flooding, in Valencia, on October 30, 2024. (Photo by Handout / UME / AFP)
Valencia, Spain: Spanish rescuers on Wednesday scrambled to save people trapped by surging tides of muddy water in floods that have killed at least 64 people in the country's east.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged citizens to remain vigilant as the danger persisted and three days of mourning were declared after the disaster on a scale rarely seen in the European nation.
Heavy rain and fierce winds have lashed Spain since the beginning of the week after a storm formed over the Mediterranean Sea, triggering floods in the eastern Valencia and southern Andalusia regions.
Emergency services in Valencia region announced a provisional death toll of 62 on X, adding that bodies were still being recovered and identified.
Another two people died in the neighbouring region of Castilla-La Mancha, its leader Emiliano Garcia-Page told reporters. The toll could rise as some people remain unaccounted for.
Cars lay scattered and piled on top of each other on roads near the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia after a mudslide, an AFP journalist saw.
Residents tried to clear the sludge from their homes with buckets and waded through waist-high waters in an attempt to save their belongings.
In Ribarroja del Turia on the outskirts of Valencia city, town councillor Esther Gomez said workers were stuck overnight in an industrial estate "without a chance of rescuing them" as streams overflowed.
"It had been a long time since this happened and we're scared," she told AFP.
According to Spain's weather service AEMET, the town of Chiva, west of Valencia, recorded 491 mm of rain in just eight hours on Tuesday -- almost equalling a year's worth.
