As rescuers painstakingly seek victims of Spain's deadliest floods in decades in inland towns and fields, Carrillo's team is shifting the hunt for the dozens of missing to the coast. The torrential downpours on October 29th -- which in some places dumped a year's worth of rain in hours -- have swept detritus towards estuaries and beaches. Three bodies have been found on the usually idyllic beaches facing the Mediterranean Sea, according to Spanish media.
READ ALSO: How fake news made Spain's floods more dangerous The authorities -- heavily criticised for their handling of the catastrophe and confusing information on the number of dead and missing -- have neither confirmed nor denied the reports. But an emergency unit involved in the rescue told AFP on condition of anonymity that at least one body has been discovered in the sea. Carrillo and his 20-strong team set out at the crack of dawn on the Albufera lagoon in the eastern Valencia region that has suffered almost all the devastation and 219 deaths.
The lagoon lies at the heart of a natural park where thousands of migratory birds shelter in the winter and restaurants serve paella to nature lovers who can explore its pristine waters by boat. But its 2,700 hectares (6,670 acres) of shallow fresh water were almost opaque when AFP visited after the floods dragged in cars, furniture and mounds of reeds. The poor visibility is the "trickiest" part of the team's work, but they would keep going "as long as the daylight allows", sub-.
