Madrid, Oct 31 (EFE).- Devastating floods in Spain have killed 158 people, officials told EFE Thursday.
The majority of the deaths have been in the eastern region of Valencia (155 deaths), which has been the worst hit by this week’s torrential rains and subsequent floods.
On Thursday morning, 13 bodies were found in the La Torre and Castellar distrcits of the city, Valencia’s mayor María José Catalá said.
Deaths have also been registered in the central region of Castille-La Mancha (2 death) and in Andalusia (1 death), in southern Spain.
The floods were caused by torrential rains that began on Tuesday. The downpours were triggered by a so-called ‘gota fria’ (Spanish for ‘cold drop’), a weather phenomenon that occurs in the autumn where cold air moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean.
Relief efforts were in full swing, especially in Valencia. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez visited the area Thursday, pledging the government’s cooperation, solidarity and support.
Since Tuesday, Civil Guard police officers have made some 3,400 rescues in areas affected by the disaster. Around 300 people are still cut off because of flooded of damaged roads, while an undetermined number of people are unaccounted for.
There were also another five people unaccounted for in Albacete, the province which neighbors Valencia.
Torrential rains were still falling on Thursday in some parts of Castellon and Tarragona, in Spain’s northeast, as well as in some areas of Andalusia, Malaga.
The floods are the worst to hit the country in more than three decades. EFE
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