Spain braces for more flood deaths, steps up aid

Valencia, Spain: Rescuers resumed a grim search for bodies on Saturday as Spain scrambled to organise aid to stricken citizens following devastating f...

Valencia, Spain: Rescuers resumed a grim search for bodies on Saturday as Spain scrambled to organise aid to stricken citizens following devastating floods that have killed more than 200 people.

Hopes of finding survivors more than three days after torrents of mud-filled water submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure were slim in the European country's deadliest such disaster in decades.

Almost all deaths have been recorded in the eastern Valencia region where thousands of soldiers, police officers and civil guards were frantically clearing debris and mud in the search for bodies.

Officials have said that dozens of people remain unaccounted for, but establishing a precise figure is difficult with telephone and transport networks severely damaged.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Friday told Cadena Ser radio station that 207 people had died and that it was "reasonable" to believe more fatalities would emerge.