Spain floods latest: Rescuers frantically dig for missing in underground shopping centre and car parks

Satellite imagery has revealed before and after views of the disastrous Valencia floods. It shows green plains turned into a deluge of mud.

Divers are still searching for bodies in the flooded underground car park of the Bonaire shopping centre in Valencia.

Emergency crews are navigating murky waters to locate potential victims at the shopping centre, using boats to access areas where at least a metre of water remains.

Survivors described the terrifying event to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo as “a nightmare” and “worse” than the “tsunami movie” with shop assistants recounting how they narrowly escaped as torrents of water surged into the complex as people were throwing up and having panic attacks.

Bonair is equivalent in size to 100 football fields with 123 shops including Zara and H&M, 34 restaurants, a bowling alley and 12-screen cinema.

One local wrote on social media: “I was lucky enough to be able to get my car out of the underground car park because they told us to evacuate. When I drove mine out there were still people and around 30 cars. It makes me frightened to think what they’ll find when they drain it.”

Rescue teams in Valencia are intensifying their search efforts in a submerged underground carpark at a shopping centre, where severe flooding left vehicles and the structure underwater.

Fatalities from Spain’s worst flash floods in modern history rose to 217 with almost all of them in the Valencia region and more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta. Hundreds are still missing.

Following the record-breaking flash floods, emergency services are working around the clock to clear out the 1,800-space underground car park, where sudden, tsunami-like flooding caught staff and shoppers by surprise.

Emergency crews are navigating murky waters to locate potential victims at the shopping centre, using boats to access areas where at least a metre of water remains.

As police teams pump out the floodwaters and search through the roughly 50 waterlogged vehicles discovered so far, no bodies have yet been found.

Survivors described the terrifying event to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo as “a nightmare” and “worse” than the “tsunami movie” with shop assistants recounting how they narrowly escaped as torrents of water surged into the complex.

Unions and leftwing cultural associations have announced a protest in Valencia on Saturday to call for regional president Carlos Mazon, of the conservative People’s Party, to step down.

A daily protest in Madrid outside the headquarters of Sanchez’s Socialist party drew more people on Sunday, about 600, due to anger over the floods, according to El Pais newspaper.

Opposition politicians accused the left-wing central government of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescuers, while Madrid has said regional authorities were responsible for civil protection.

Spanish minister Felix Bolanos from the Socialist Party said Tuesday’s cabinet would declare some of the worst hit villages by the floods in the regions of Valencia, Andalusia, Castile La Mancha and Catalonia as “severely affected areas” so that they can be entitled to emergency funds.

He added that the government would approve on Tuesday a package of relief measures to help people cope with the situation without giving further details.

Opposition politicians accused the left-wing central government of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescuers.

Mazon on Monday had previously said the Hydrographic Confederation of Jucar (CHJ), which measures the flow of rivers and ravines for the state, had cancelled a planned alert three times.

But Madrid said the CHJ does not issue flood risk alerts, which are the responsibility of Spain’s regional governments.

An expat teacher living south of Valencia in Spain says he is unable to leave his town due to being “surrounded by water” following flash flooding in the region.

John Fahy, 55, who lives in a seaside town called Cullera, also reported there being no food in the supermarkets, with no new supplies expected for a while.

“We can’t leave our town because it’s flooded all around,” he said.

“There’s no-one in the shops in Cullera because there’s no food and there won’t be for a while.”

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Images and videos on social media shows flooding in the terminals of Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, after the city was lashed by fresh rainfall on Monday.At least 70 flights were cancelled and 18 diverted as a result.

Spain’s weather forecaster Aena warned that Barcelona could be hit by another five inches of rain on Monday with some showers falling on flood ravaged Valencia too.

The flooding affected key areas, including the T-1 terminal and parking facilities. Passengers were kept away from these areas while airport staff continued to clear the water and restore normal operations.

Aena said that the storm has significantly disrupted all activities at the airport, resulting in “considerable” delays after air traffic controllers were forced to space out flight departures.

Passengers were advised to check the state of their flights online and prepare for potential delays as the airport continues to manage the impact of the floods.