Crashing waves in hilltop village, night of terror from Spain's floods

Unprecedented floods killed over 200

CHIVA (SPAIN): Irene Cuevas will never forget the sound of the waves crashing below her apartment's balcony. If only there had been a flash of lightning in the darkness to let her glimpse what sounded like a roaring sea. "It was a constant fear because we didn't have light to see by," Cuevas told The Associated Press. "We could hear the roar of the waves, which was unbelievable. The street was completely flooded and we were hoping for some lightning so that we could at least see what situation we were in. It was all waves, currents everywhere. "We have that sound of the waves burned in our memory."

The devastating flash floods in eastern Spain this week that claimed over 200 lives and destroyed countless homes and livelihoods also seared a scar of terror in many survivors. Cuevas, a 48-year-old embryologist, is a resident of Chiva, a village perched on a hill about 30 kilometers from Valencia city, whose southern outskirts were likewise ravaged by the floods on Tuesday and Wednesday. Chiva got more rain in eight hours than the town had experienced in the preceding 20 months. Cuevas was at home and saw how the gorge dividing her village suddenly overflowed with rushing water.

The tsunami-like wall of water claimed at least seven lives in Chiva, home to some 16,000 people, and the search goes on for more missing, either in collapsed houses or in the gorge.