A British man has died during flash floods that have killed at least 72 people in Spain. The 71-year-old, who is yet to be named, was rescue...
A British man has died during flash floods that have killed at least 72 people in Spain.
The 71-year-old, who is yet to be named, was rescued from his home on the on the outskirts of Alhaurin de la Torre, in Malaga, before later dying in hospital.
He suffered several cardiac arrests and had hypothermia, according to local authorities.
The number of people killed in extreme flash floods in Spain has now reached at least 72, after extreme rainfall swept away whole streets of cars.
Most of the confirmed deaths so far have been in Valencia. An 88-year-old woman was also found dead further inland in the city of Cuenca.
The dramatic death toll from one of the country’s worst-ever natural disasters was expected to rise as the search continued for dozens of people still unaccounted for.
Multiple corpses were recovered overnight while a search is still ongoing for survivors, while footage showed Valencia’s airport runway covered in water.
One part of Valencia, Chiva, recorded a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours, with 491mm of rain according to the Spanish Weather Service.
‘Yesterday was the worst day of my life,’ Ricardo Gabaldon, mayor of the town of Utiel told national broadcaster RTVE.
‘We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to three metres.’
President of the region Carlos Mazon said: ‘There are lifeless bodies in some of the areas that have begun to be accessed and bodies that continue to appear.’
Photos and video emerging this morning show a disaster on a huge scale, with cars and vans piled high on top of one another after with the force of the deluge.
Video appears to show people swept away in flood waters, which floated vehicles with ease.
The horrific scenes are ‘a terrible reminder of the changing and more chaotic weather we are experiencing as a result of climate change,’ scientists said.
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