Spain floods latest: Rescuers dig for missing in underground shopping centre

Rescue teams in Valencia are intensifying their search efforts in a submerged underground carpark at a shopping centre, where severe flooding left vehicles and the structure underwater.

Fatalities from Spain’s worst flash floods in modern history rose to 217 with almost all of them in the Valencia region and more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta. Hundreds are still missing.

Following the record-breaking flash floods, emergency services are working around the clock to clear out the 1,800-space underground car park, where sudden, tsunami-like flooding caught staff and shoppers by surprise.

Emergency crews are navigating murky waters to locate potential victims at the shopping centre, using boats to access areas where at least a metre of water remains.

As police teams pump out the floodwaters and search through the roughly 50 waterlogged vehicles discovered so far, no bodies have yet been found.

Survivors described the terrifying event to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo as “a nightmare” and “worse” than the “tsunami movie” with shop assistants recounting how they narrowly escaped as torrents of water surged into the complex.

Unions and leftwing cultural associations have announced a protest in Valencia on Saturday to call for regional president Carlos Mazon, of the conservative People’s Party, to step down.

A daily protest in Madrid outside the headquarters of Sanchez’s Socialist party drew more people on Sunday, about 600, due to anger over the floods, according to El Pais newspaper.

Opposition politicians accused the left-wing central government of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescuers, while Madrid has said regional authorities were responsible for civil protection.

Spanish minister Felix Bolanos from the Socialist Party said Tuesday’s cabinet would declare some of the worst hit villages by the floods in the regions of Valencia, Andalusia, Castile La Mancha and Catalonia as “severely affected areas” so that they can be entitled to emergency funds.

He added that the government would approve on Tuesday a package of relief measures to help people cope with the situation without giving further details.

Opposition politicians accused the left-wing central government of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescuers.

Mazon on Monday had previously said the Hydrographic Confederation of Jucar (CHJ), which measures the flow of rivers and ravines for the state, had cancelled a planned alert three times.

But Madrid said the CHJ does not issue flood risk alerts, which are the responsibility of Spain’s regional governments.

An expat teacher living south of Valencia in Spain says he is unable to leave his town due to being “surrounded by water” following flash flooding in the region.

John Fahy, 55, who lives in a seaside town called Cullera, also reported there being no food in the supermarkets, with no new supplies expected for a while.

“We can’t leave our town because it’s flooded all around,” he said.

“There’s no-one in the shops in Cullera because there’s no food and there won’t be for a while.”

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Images and videos on social media shows flooding in the terminals of Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, after the city was lashed by fresh rainfall on Monday.At least 70 flights were cancelled and 18 diverted as a result.

Spain’s weather forecaster Aena warned that Barcelona could be hit by another five inches of rain on Monday with some showers falling on flood ravaged Valencia too.

The flooding affected key areas, including the T-1 terminal and parking facilities. Passengers were kept away from these areas while airport staff continued to clear the water and restore normal operations.

Aena said that the storm has significantly disrupted all activities at the airport, resulting in “considerable” delays after air traffic controllers were forced to space out flight departures.

Passengers were advised to check the state of their flights online and prepare for potential delays as the airport continues to manage the impact of the floods.

The deadly floods left cars piled up like toys in streets, swallowed homes, and covered entire neighbourhoods in sludge and debris. Muddy rivers swept away everything in their path – roads, houses and key infrastructure.

Thousands of people are still facing power and water cuts and shortages of basic goods, especially in the eastern region, the worst affected.

Here’s all we know about the devastating floods, the causes, and the scale of the impact:

Oriol Bartomeus, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, said of the moment angry Valencia residents threw mud at the king and chased off other politicians.

Speaking of King Felipe’s reaction where he engaged in dialogue with the people, Prof Bartomeus said : “If he had sought protection from his bodyguards and run away, now that would have been the darkest day of his reign.

“Instead he showed why he is king, demonstrating composure and serenity, and by getting as close as he could to the people.”

The 56-year-old Felipe took over a Royal House whose reputation was in tatters after the financial and lifestyle scandals of his father, Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014.

Where the prime minister was pelted and fled Felipe stood his ground for over half an hour. It was impossible to hear what was said, but he spoke to several shouting people in an intimate and apparently serious tone.Bartomeus, who said he is not a fervent defender of the monarchy, noted what the king didn’t do: He didn’t appear to patronise the people.“

He didn’t console the people, like for example you see the British royals do,” Bartomeus said. Instead, “he dialogued with them. He put the state on his back, got down off the pedestal and went down to the people who were telling him that the state had not arrived, and he told them that it will.”

The regional head of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, said that his region would separately hand out each household 6,000 euros and make available at least 200,000 euros to help each town face urgent spending needs.

In total, Mazon, of the conservative People’s Party, said the region would request from Spain’s central government a first aid package worth around 31.4 billion euros, including funds to reconstruct key infrastructure.

Locals criticised late alerts from authorities about the dangers and a perceived delayed response by emergency services.

But General Javier Marcos, commander of the army’s emergency response services, said he had ordered 500 soldiers to be deployed within 15 minutes of seeing the flood warning on Tuesday who were able to enter hard-hit areas.

“The degree of destruction is so great that mobility is limited,” he said. “It is so complex that it requires two things: discipline and patience.”