Reeking mud sparks health fears in Spain

The sea of mud and stagnant water submerging Spanish towns more than 10 days after the country's worst floods in decades has sparked a sickening stench and health fears.

"That is the rotten meat," said Ms Toni Marco, pointing to a destroyed supermarket in the devastated town of Sedavi from which a disgusting odour wafted when AFP visited.

The meat was removed only recently, well after the floods cut the refrigerators' electricity supply, added Ms Marco, a 40-year-old employee of a private cleaning company.

The nearby town of Catarroja also remains a mud bath after the Oct 29 disaster that has claimed 220 lives in south-eastern Spain, with a powerful reek compounding the woes of survivors.

The diversity of matter decomposing under the mud produces a spectrum of smells ranging from the mildly unpleasant to the outright repulsive.