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Spain last to flood: Desperate search for ‘many missing people’ – as death toll rises and torrential rains loom | World news

Spain last to flood: Desperate search for ‘many missing people’ – as death toll rises and torrential rains loom | World news

Eyewitness: ‘The disaster is enormous, I have never seen anything like it in my entire life’

By means of Siobhan RobbinsEurope correspondent

In the town of Algemesi, about 40km south of Valencia, they say the floods struck without warning.

The water flows down the street, bringing with it thick, smelly mud that covers every surface in sight.

As we slosh through the slippery mud puddle, we meet Bernardo trying to sweep the mud from his house.

No matter how often he scrubs and cleans, the floors remain covered in dirt.

“The disaster is enormous, I have never seen anything like it in my entire life,” he says.

He estimates that some houses were filled with almost two meters of water.

Some people in the flood zone said the force of the water was “like a tsunami”, causing cars to collide in the streets.

Many are now without power after the flood hit the electricity supply.

Residents spend a large part of the day repairing the damage. But as we walk through the city, snapshots are still visible.

Outside a house are two dining room chairs.

Their once beautiful velvet cushions are now soaked and discolored.

Further on, huge pumps spout water from people’s basements.

On another street, cars stand in a chaotic group, stranded where the water has left them.

Bernardo shows us a video of the immediate aftermath.

Cars stand on their bonnets on the road as stunned locals take in the scene.

He estimates that about half of the city’s vehicles are damaged.

And the misery does not only apply to Algemesi; it is a pain that is repeated in communities in the south-east of Spain.