Search and rescue efforts continued on Thursday, with crews scouring stranded vehicles and waterlogged buildings for victims of the devastating flash floods that claimed at least 158 lives. The eastern Valencia region alone reported 155 confirmed fatalities.

The catastrophic impact of the floods, described as Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in recent memory, became increasingly apparent as the debris and mud settled. The scale of the destruction resembled the aftermath of a tsunami, leaving survivors to grapple with the loss of loved ones and the task of rebuilding.

Cars were stacked upon each other like fallen dominoes, while uprooted trees, downed power lines, and household belongings were submerged in the thick layer of mud that engulfed streets in countless communities throughout Valencia, a region situated south of Barcelona.

An unknown number of individuals remain unaccounted for, raising concerns that the death toll could rise further.

“Sadly, there are deceased individuals within some vehicles,” Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente stated early Thursday, before the death toll surged from 93 on Wednesday night.

The relentless torrent of water transformed narrow streets into treacherous death traps, creating raging rivers that surged through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people, and everything in their path. Bridges were destroyed, and roads were rendered unrecognizable.

Luís Sánchez, a welder, recounted his harrowing experience rescuing people trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of Valencia city. The road rapidly transformed into a floating graveyard littered with hundreds of vehicles.

“I witnessed bodies drifting past. I called out, but there was no response,” Sánchez shared. “Firefighters prioritized the elderly, rescuing them as they could. I am from the nearby area, so I sought to help and rescue people. People were weeping everywhere, trapped and desperate.”

Regional authorities reported late Wednesday that helicopter crews had successfully rescued approximately 70 individuals stranded on rooftops and in cars, but ground crews remained actively engaged in the search and rescue operations.

“Our primary focus is locating the victims and the missing, providing solace to their grieving families,” said following a meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday, the first of three official days of mourning.

An ‘extraordinary’ deluge

Spain’s Mediterranean coastline is accustomed to autumn storms that can trigger flooding, but this event stands out as the most powerful flash flood in recent memory. Scientists attribute this phenomenon to climate change, which is also responsible for the escalating temperatures, droughts, and warming of the Mediterranean Sea in Spain.

Human-induced climate change has doubled the likelihood of a storm resembling this week’s deluge in Valencia, according to a preliminary analysis conducted Thursday by World Weather Attribution, a consortium of international scientists dedicated to studying the link between global warming and extreme weather events.

Spain has been grappling with an almost two-year drought, leaving the ground exceptionally hard and unable to absorb the heavy rainfall that occurred late Tuesday and early Wednesday, leading to the catastrophic flash floods.

The violent weather event caught regional government officials off guard. Spain’s national weather service reported that the Valencian town of Chiva received more rain in eight hours than it had in the preceding 20 months, describing the deluge as “extraordinary.”

In Paiporta, a community of 25,000 located near Valencia city, mayor Maribel Albalat confirmed on Thursday that at least 62 people had perished.

“(Paiporta) has never experienced floods, we’ve never encountered this kind of problem. We discovered many elderly individuals in the town center,” Albalat stated to national broadcaster RTVE. “A significant number of people also ventured out to retrieve their cars from their garages… it turned into a deadly trap.”

Farms damaged

While the brunt of the suffering was concentrated in municipalities near the city of Valencia, the storms unleashed their fury across vast stretches of the southern and eastern coasts of the Iberian peninsula. Two fatalities were confirmed in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region, and one in southern Andalusia.

Greenhouses and farms throughout southern Spain, renowned as Europe’s garden due to its exported produce, were also devastated by heavy rains and flooding. The storms spawned an unusual tornado in Valencia and a hailstorm that inflicted damage on cars in Andalusia. Homes as far southwest as Malaga in Andalusia were left without water.

Heavy rainfall persisted on Thursday further north, prompting the Spanish weather agency to issue alerts for several counties in Castellón, within the eastern Valencia region, and for Tarragona in Catalonia, as well as southwest Cadiz.

“This storm front is still affecting us,” the prime minister emphasized. “Please stay home and adhere to official recommendations. This will help save lives.”

The search goes on amid the destruction

Over 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency rescue units joined regional and local emergency workers in the search for bodies and survivors.

“We are conducting a house-by-house search,” Ángel Martínez, a member of a military emergency unit, informed Spain’s national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.

An Associated Press journalist witnessed rescuers removing seven body bags from an underground garage in Barrio de la Torre on Thursday.

Many residents in both towns were forced to traverse long distances in sticky mud to secure food and water. Numerous cars had been destroyed, and the mud, destruction, and debris left by the storm rendered some roads impassable. Some residents pushed shopping carts along waterlogged streets, while others carried their children to shield them from the mire.

Valencia regional President Carlos Mazón requested on Thursday that Spain’s army assist with distributing essential goods to the population.

The National Police apprehended 39 individuals for looting on Wednesday. The Civil Guard deployed officers to prevent further thefts from homes, cars, and shopping malls.

Approximately 150,000 people in Valencia were without electricity on Wednesday, but roughly half had power restored by Thursday, according to Spanish news agency EFE. An unknown number of residents lacked running water and relied on whatever bottled water they could find.

The region remained partly isolated, with several roads closed and train lines disrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid. Officials indicated that it would take two to three weeks to repair the damaged line.

A man wept as he displayed to a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the remnants of what was once the ground floor of his home in Catarroja, south of Valencia. The scene resembled a bomb explosion, obliterating furniture and belongings and stripping paint from some walls.