By ALBERTO SAIZ, JOSEPH WILSON and TERESA MEDRANO | Associated Press
BARRIO DE LA TORRE, Spain (AP) — Crews searched for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings Thursday as people tried to salvage what they could from their ruined homes following monstrous flash floods in Spain that claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in one region alone.
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More horrors emerged from the debris and ubiquitous layers of mud left by the walls of water that produced Spain’s most deadly natural disaster in living memory. Officials said Thursday that 155 people were killed by the floods in the hardest-hit region of Valencia.
The widespread damage recalled the aftermath of a hurricane or tsunami.
Cars were piled on one another like fallen dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items all mired in mud that covered streets in dozens of communities in Valencia.
An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found.
“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” said Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente.
Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in its path. The floods demolished bridges and left roads unrecognizable.
Luís Sánchez, a welder, was one of the lucky ones when the storm turned the V-31 highway south of Valencia city into a floating graveyard strewn with hundreds of vehicles. He said he saved several people.
“I saw bodies floating past. I called out but nothing,” Sánchez said. “The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”
Regional authorities said late Wednesday it seemed no one was left stranded on rooftops or in cars in need of rescue after helicopters had saved some 70 people.
“Our priority is to find the victims and the missing so we can help end the suffering of their families,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said after meeting with regional officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday, the first of three …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
