Spain in mourning as death toll from catastrophic floods rises to more than 150

The death toll from devastating floods in eastern Spain has risen to more than 150, regional authorities and emergency services have said, as the country began three days of mourning and the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, urged people to stay at home.

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With forecasts of more bad weather prompting storm alerts farther north, Sánchez pleaded with residents yesterday to follow the calls of the emergency services, saying: "Right now, the most important thing is to save as many lives as possible." Officials in the stricken eastern region of Valencia said yesterday afternoon that 155 bodies had been recovered there, with three deaths also reported from the Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucia regions. Authorities have not discloased how many people are still unaccounted for, but the defence minister, Margarita Robles, said earlier that the death toll was expected to rise given that some areas remained inaccessible to rescuers.

Flags flew at half-mast on government buildings and a minute of silence was observed nationwide.

The flash floods battered Valencia's infrastructure, sweeping away bridges, roads and railway tracks and submerging farmland.

Survivors described walls of rushing water that turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned torrents that poured into the ground floors and garages of houses and apartment blocks.

Angry residents in several towns said mobile phone alerts had not been sent out until 8pm on Tuesday, when serious flooding had already occurred in some areas - and several hours after the national weather service, Aemet, had issued a red alert for exceptionally heavy rains.

Laura Villaescusa, who lives in the Valencia suburb of La Torre, told Reuters: "Those people wouldn't have died if they had been warned in time."

One man told the news site Eldiario.es that the alert came when he was already trapped in his car with flood waters up to his chest. "Just after 8pm, after an hour with water up to my neck and swallowing mud, the alert went off," he said.