Spanish rescue workers teamed up on Wednesday to rescue people trapped in the muddy waters of floods that killed at least 62 people in the eastern Valencia region.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged citizens not to lower their vigilance in the face of the ongoing emergency and vowed not to “abandon” the victims of the disaster to a degree rarely seen in the European country.

Heavy rain and strong winds have hit Spain since the beginning of the week, causing flooding in the eastern Valencia and southern Andalusia regions.

Emergency services in the Valencia region announced a preliminary death toll of 62 on X, adding that bodies were still being recovered and identified.

The number is expected to rise as other regions have not yet reported any casualties.

According to fire chief Jose Miguel Basset, “several hundred people” remained trapped on two highways in the Valencia region.

Parts of the Valencia region are without electricity and telephone connections, while some places were cut off by flooded roads, complicating rescue efforts, regional President Carlos Mazon told reporters.

Cars lay scattered and piled on top of each other on roads near the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia after a mudslide, an AFP journalist saw.

Residents tried to clear mud from their homes with buckets and waded through waist-deep water to save their belongings.

Maria Carmen, a resident of the city of Valencia, told Spanish public broadcaster TVE that she climbed through the window of her car and took shelter on the roof of a van for hours to escape the flood.

Sanchez said the government’s “absolute priority” was to help the victims. “All of Spain is crying with all of you… We will not abandon you,” he said in a televised address.

The disaster cannot be considered over and “we will use all necessary resources for as long as necessary so that we can recover from this tragedy,” he added.

King Felipe VI said he was “devastated” by the news

The Prime Minister of neighboring Portugal, Luis Montenegro, expressed his country’s “greatest regret” and his “solidarity with the entire Spanish people” in a message on X.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz was “shocked” and expressed his “sincere condolences” to the victims’ families.

– “Unprecedented phenomenon” –

The European Union has already activated its Copernicus satellite system to help coordinate Spanish rescue teams, Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference in Brussels.

The bloc has also offered to use its disaster response mechanism to send further reinforcements, she said.

The central government representative in the Valencia region, Pilar Bernabe, said emergency military units were being deployed from several regions to reinforce rescue work.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles told reporters that “more than a thousand soldiers” were deployed with helicopter support in the face of an “unprecedented phenomenon.”

Emergency services in the Valencia region rescued nearly 200 people overnight who are now being accommodated in fire stations, Basset added.

Rail and air transport were significantly affected and the high-speed line between Valencia and Madrid remained closed.

The Spanish parliament held a minute’s silence on Wednesday in memory of the victims before a normally raucous period of questions to the government.

The flood disaster is the worst in Spain since August 1996, when 86 people died in the northeastern Aragon region near the Pyrenees on the border with France.

Meteorologists said the latest storm was caused by cold air flowing over the warm waters of the Mediterranean, producing intense rain clouds.

The rains are expected to continue at least until Thursday.

Scientists warn that extreme weather events such as storms are becoming more intense, lasting longer and occurring more frequently due to human-caused climate change.

Meteorologists say warming Mediterranean Sea, which increases water evaporation, is playing a key role in worsening torrential rains.

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