What to know about flash floods that killed over 200 people in Spain
Al Jazeera
Thousands of soldiers deployed as rescue and search operations are under way in the wake of the country’s deadliest disaster in living memory.
Five days after terrifying floods razed towns in eastern Spain and killed at least 214 people, frustration at the government’s response is mounting, even as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised to “improve” recovery efforts with the deployment of 10,000 soldiers and police officers.
Authorities in the hard-hit province of Valencia said on Sunday that hopes of finding more survivors are fading after torrents of muddy water wrecked towns and infrastructure, killing at least 211 people in the region, along with two others in Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia.
Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego, reporting from Valencia, said authorities fear that more bodies could be recovered from underground garages.
The tragedy is already Europe’s worst flood-related disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal.
Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were due to visit the Valencia region on Sunday, Spanish media reported.
