BARRIO DE LA TORRE, Spain (AP) — Moments after rushing waters burst through the door to her home, Mari Carmen Pérez received a text message alert from regional Spanish authorities warning her of the possibility of flash floods. By the time Pérez’s phone buzzed, the water has already gushed into her kitchen, living room and bathroom, forcing her and her family to flee upstairs. “They didn’t have any idea of what was going on,” Pérez, a 56-year-old cleaner, said Thursday by phone from Barrio de la Torre in Valencia.
“Everything is ruined. The people here, we have never seen anything like this.” She was one of the lucky ones.
More than , many trapped in cars or the ground floor of their homes, when storm-fed riverbeds burst their banks and swept through dozens of localities on the southern outskirts of Valencia city. The massive number of dead — easily making the floods the worst natural disaster in Spain in living memory — has raised questions about how this could happen in a European Union country that excels in public safety. As rescuers continued to pull bodies from the mud and debris Thursday, anger also began to grow among the families and friends mourning lost loved ones and many more thousands whose livelihoods have been shattered by the deluge.
The streets were full of people walking to procure basic supplies with their cars ruined and the streets undrivable because of the mud and debris. The Valencian regional government is being criticized for .
