VALENCIA: The deadliest flash floods in Spain's modern history have killed at least 214 people and dozens were still unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the eastern region of Valencia, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday (Nov 2).

In a televised statement, Sanchez said the government was sending 5,000 more army troops to help with the searches and clean-up in addition to 2,500 soldiers already deployed.

"It is the biggest operation by the armed forces in Spain in peacetime," Sanchez said. "The government is going to mobilise all the resources as long as they are needed."

Valencian regional authorities said on Saturday night the number of fatalities in the region was 211, plus two from Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia.

The tragedy is already Europe's worst flood-related disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal.

Hopes of finding survivors were raised when rescuers found a woman alive after three days trapped in a car park in Montcada, Valencia.

Residents burst into applause when civil protection chief Martin Perez announced the news.

Volunteers flocked to Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences centre on Saturday for the first coordinated clean-up organised by regional authorities.

The venue has been turned into the nerve centre for the operation.

In Valencia's Picanya suburb, shop-owner Emilia, 74, said on Saturday: "We feel abandoned, there are many people who need help. It is not only my house, it's all the houses and we are throwing away furniture, we are throwing away everything.

"When are they going to provide fridges and washing machines? Because we can't even wash our clothes and we can't even have a shower."

The storm triggered a new weather alert in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, where rains are expected to continue during the weekend.  

  - Reuters