Spain races to save victims as floods kill 72

There is still a pile of cars in the industrial estate, mountains and mountains of cars,

Amparo Fort, mayor of the town of Chiva, told public radio RNE

Many must be empty, but we are sure others are occupied,

Fort said

We climbed into the scoop and he took us to safety up at the hotel, which is the highest part of town,

says Platero

By then, the water was 3 metres high,

says Aleixandre

The solidarity people here in Utiel have shown has been amazing – and people have been risking their lives saving others,

says Ricardo Gabaldón, who has been the town’s mayor for the past 18 months

Six people died here, almost all of them were old and had reduced mobility,

he says

I only just managed to get into the house because of the water,

he says

A lot of people have died here,

he says

You could hear the neighbours’ windows breaking because of the water pressure and then all the water getting in,

he says

We were watching how the river was rising – normally there’s hardly any water in it – and in a matter of seconds, the water started flooding in,

she says

I’m not very tall and you can see how high the water was. It would have been over my head if I’d tried to come down,

she says

This is a disaster. There are a lot of elderly people who don’t have medicine. There are children who don’t have food. We don’t have milk, we don’t have water. We have no access to anything,

a resident of Alfafar, one of the most affected towns in south Valencia, told state television station TVE

The situation is unbelievable. It’s a disaster and there is very little help,

said Emilio Cuartero, a resident of Masanasa, on the outskirts of Valencia

I have been there all my life, all my memories are there, my parents lived there ... and now in one night it is all gone,

Chiva resident Juan Vicente Pérez told The Associated Press near the place he lost his home

There are people living with corpses at home. It’s very sad. We are organizing ourselves, but we are running out of everything,

he told reporters

The massive amount of sediment poured into the Mediterranean Sea by the rivers in the Valencian Community is clearly visible in this Copernicus Sentinel-3 image.

Copernicus says

We're going from car to car looking for any petrol we can find,

said one firefighter who had travelled to Valencia from the southern region of Andalusia to assist rescue efforts, carrying a plastic tube and empty bottles to collect the petrol from the cars' tanks

The flooding couldn't have been avoided, but if those in charge of notifying us had notified us sooner, there would have been fever deaths and fewer missing people'

The user who shared the clip, who goes by the handle @luuciaseguii on the social platform, wrote in the video

We’re going to send a clear message,

the agency wrote on social media

I have just requested the incorporation of the army and the available land, sea and air forces to reinforce the logistical tasks and the distribution of aid to the population."

In a post on X Carlos Mazon previously said