Latest floods in Spain Valencia: New flood fears due to red rain warning

The deadly floods left cars piling up on the streets like toys, swallowing houses and covering entire neighborhoods in mud and debris.

Thousands of people are still facing power and water outages and shortages of basic goods, particularly in the eastern region, which has been hardest hit.

Here's everything we know about the devastating floods, the causes and the extent of the impact.

Entire houses in the areas most affected by flash floods have “disappeared,” said a mayor of a small town in Valencia.

Chiva Mayor Amparo Fort told local media this morning that citizens need more financial support from the government as the full extent of the damage comes to light.

“Entire houses have disappeared,” she said. “We don’t know if they are with or without humans.”

She added: “We continue to ask for food and water. We need milk, porridge for babies and the elderly.”

An expat teacher living south of Valencia in Spain says he can't leave his city because he's “surrounded by water” after a flash flood in the region.

John Fahy, 55, who lives in a coastal town called Cullera, also reported that there was no food in supermarkets and that no new supplies were expected for a while.

“The army was only sent in two or three hours ago because they are now finding more bodies in garages,” said Mr Fahy from Dublin.

“We cannot leave our city because it is flooded everywhere. There is no one in the shops in Cullera because there is no food there and it will stay that way for a while.”

There are a number of weather warnings in place in areas affected by flash flooding, as well as more severe warnings in other parts of Spain.

Several yellow and amber weather warnings are in effect in the province of Valencia, which was worst affected by the floods. This means those most affected by the floods can expect even more rain.

In the southwest of the country, a red weather warning has been introduced in the province of Huelva.

As Spanish rescue workers continue their search for those still missing in the worst flooding disaster the country has seen in modern history, here's what we know on Friday morning:

– The official death toll is now 158 – 155 of which come from the hardest-hit province of Valencia.

– The death toll is expected to rise as an unknown number of people remain missing.

– Spain is in the second day of three days of national mourning. Across the country, flags are flying at half-mast and a minute's silence was observed on Thursday.

– Valencia was declared a disaster area.

As the shock wore off, anger grew over the authorities' handling of the crisis, both for their late warnings about the impending floods and for the chaotic relief effort.

Many survivors had to walk long distances in the sticky mud to find food and water. Most of their cars were destroyed and the mud, destruction and debris left by the storm made some roads impassable. Some pushed shopping carts through the sodden streets, others carried their children to keep them out of the dirt.

About 150,000 people in Valencia were without power on Wednesday, but about half had power on Thursday.

An unknown number of people had no running water and relied on whatever bottled water they could find.

The region remained partially isolated with several roads cut off and train routes disrupted, including the high-speed link to Madrid. Officials said repairing the damaged line would take two to three weeks.

And as emergency services focused on recovering the dead, survivors had to provide basic supplies and clean up the mess. Volunteers helped locals move wrecked vehicles, clear trash and sweep mud.

With local services apparently overwhelmed, Valencia regional president Carlos Mazon asked on Thursday whether the Spanish army could help distribute essential goods to the population. The government in Madrid responded by promising to send 500 more soldiers, more national police and civil guards.

The severe weather event caught regional government officials by surprise.

According to the Spanish Meteorological Service, it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian city of Chiva than in the previous 20 months.

A man cried as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his house in Catarroja, south of Valencia.

It looked like a bomb had exploded inside, destroying furniture and belongings and removing the paint from some walls.

In Paiporta, Mayor Maribel Albalat said on Thursday that at least 62 people had died in the community of 25,000 people next to the city of Valencia.

“(Paiporta) never has floods, we never have problems like that.”

“And we found a lot of older people in the city center,” Ms Albalat told RTVE.

“Plus, there were a lot of people coming to get their cars out of the garage… it was a real trap.”

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday the government's priority was to find “victims and missing people” so that “we can help end the suffering of their families.”

At least 158 ​​people have died in floods that swept Spain's east coast this week. Dozens are still missing and officials are racing against time to find them.

“We are searching house by house,” Angel Martinez, one of 1,000 soldiers helping with the rescue effort, told Spanish national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.