Spain flood deaths top 200, more troops join rescue

Rescuers on Friday raised the death toll in Spain's worst floods for a generation to 205 as the government deployed more troops in an increasingly desperate search for survivors.

The floods that have tossed vehicles, collapsed bridges and covered towns with mud since Tuesday are the European country's deadliest such disaster in decades.

The organisation coordinating emergency services in the hardest-hit eastern Valencia region said 202 people had been confirmed dead there.

Officials in neighbouring Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia in the south had already announced a combined three deaths in their regions.

Rescuers equipped with drones and sniffer dogs waded through water and rummaged through debris in search of dozens of people the authorities believe are still missing.

The government has deployed another 500 troops to the stricken areas to bolster the 1,200 already on site for search, rescue and logistics tasks. Another 500 will be dispatched on Saturday.

Some cut-off areas remain without water, food or power three days after the floods began, and many roads and rail lines remain inaccessible.

In the devastated town of Paiporta near Valencia city, some residents complained aid was coming too slowly and frustrating the efforts of volunteers.

"There aren't enough firefighters, the shovels haven't arrived," Paco Clemente, a 33-year-old pharmacist, told AFP as he helped clear mud from a friend's house.

Thousands of people remain cut off from the electricity and telephone networks, but it is hoped the estimated number of missing people will fall once connections are restored.

- 'People are desperate' -

With several places seeing signs of order breaking down, government minister Angel Victor Torres on Thursday vowed an uncompromising response to looting.

Police said they had arrested 50 people for incidents including theft from vehicles and a jewellery store.

In the Valencia region town of Aldaia, Fernando Lozano told AFP he saw thieves grabbing items from an abandoned supermarket as "people are a bit desperate".

"Until things return to normal and the supermarket opens, it's going to be very bad here."

Sports centres and schools were among the sites being used for emergency food distribution, Valencia region leader Carlos Mazon told reporters.

Slabs of tarmac from destroyed roads littered fields inundated with murky brown water and mud caked the ground floor of homes in the Valencia region.

The courthouse in Valencia city has been converted into a morgue, where health workers wearing smocks carried stretchers covered with white sheets.

- 'We all have to help' -

An army of hundreds of volunteers set off from Valencia on Friday armed with shovels, buckets and shopping trolleys laden with food and nappies to help distressed neighbours in the city's flooded suburbs.

Among them was chef Nacho Huerta, who told AFP he felt "a lot of emotion" and that "we all have to help".

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hailed "the limitless solidarity and dedication of Spanish society" on X and pledged aid "for as long as it takes".

But the Valencia regional government urged people to stay at home, saying they risked holding up the emergency services travelling to the worst-affected areas.

Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the victims and their families in Spain, historically a deeply Catholic country.

The storm that sparked the floods formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for the time of year.

But scientists have long warned that climate change driven by human activity is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of such extreme weather events.

bur-imm/sbk