Search continues for dozens who are still missing in Spain after flooding disaster

Emergency teams in Spain are continuing their efforts to locate dozens of people still missing in what is the worst flooding disaster in generations.

More than 200 people are known to have died, with most fatalities happening in the Valencia region, but the death toll is expected to rise.

The floods destroyed bridges and covered towns with mud - leaving cut-off communities without water, food or electricity.

Some residents say more lives could have been saved if the local authorities had been quicker to warn of the flood risk.

While the worst of the weather has now passed Valencia and the Mediterranean coast, warnings remain in place in southern Spain, with the possibility of further heavy downfalls.

Meanwhile, questions remain about how disaster relief services acted, with accusations that they were too slow, and whether Spain has an adequate warning system for natural disasters.

The civil protection agency, overseen by the regional government, issued an emergency alert to the phones of people in and around the city of Valencia after 8pm on Tuesday, by which time the flood water was swiftly rising in many areas and in some cases already wreaking havoc.

Source: BBC News