Spanish residents appeal for help, 3 days after historic floods left at least 158 dead

Flash floods devastate southern Valencia, Spain, leaving residents stranded, without basic necessities, and facing the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Three days after historic flash floods swept through several towns in southern Valencia, in eastern Spain, the initial shock was giving way to anger, frustration and a wave of solidarity on Friday (November 1, 2024).

Many streets are still blocked by piled-up vehicles and debris, in some cases trapping residents in their homes. Some places still don't have electricity, running water, or stable telephone connections.

Residents turned to media to appeal for help.

“This is a disaster. There are a lot of elderly people who don't have medicine. There are children who don't have food. We don't have milk, we don't have water. We have no access to anything,” a resident of Alfafar, one of the most affected towns in south Valencia, told state television station TVE. “No one even came to warn us on the first day.”

So far 158 bodies have been recovered — 155 in Valencia, two in the Castilla La Mancha region and one more in Andalusia — after Spain's deadliest natural disaster in living memory. Members of the security forces and soldiers are busy searching for an unknown number of missing people, many feared to still be trapped in wrecked vehicles or flooded garages.

And as authorities repeat over and over, more storms are expected. The Spanish weather agency issued alerts for strong rains in Tarragona, Catalonia, as well as part of the Balearic Islands.

Meanwhile, flood survivors and volunteers are engaged in the titanic task of clearing an omnipresent layer of dense mud.