Spain races to save victims as floods kill 72

VALENCIA: Spanish rescuers on Wednesday scrambled to save people trapped by surging tides of muddy water in floods that have killed at least 72 people in the country's east.

The body coordinating emergency services in the Valencia region announced a new provisional death toll of 70 in a statement, adding that bodies were still being recovered and identified.

Another two people died in the neighbouring region of Castilla-La Mancha, its leader Emiliano Garcia-Page told reporters.

The toll could rise as some people remain unaccounted for.

The flood toll is the deadliest in Spain since August 1996 when 86 people died in the northeastern region of Aragon near the Pyrenees mountains bordering France.

Heavy rain and fierce winds have lashed Spain since the beginning of the week after a storm formed over the Mediterranean Sea, triggering floods in the eastern Valencia and southern Andalusia regions.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged citizens not to lower their guard as the emergency continued and pledged not to "abandon" victims of the disaster on a scale rarely seen in the European country.

Sanchez said the government's "absolute priority" was to help the victims. "All of Spain weeps with all of you [...] We won't abandon you," he said in a televised address.

The disaster could not be considered over and "we will deploy all the necessary resources for as long as necessary so that we can recover from this tragedy," he added.

Unprecedented phenomenon

The European Union has already activated its Copernicus satellite system to help coordinate Spanish rescue teams, commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference in Brussels.

Defence Minister Margarita Robles told reporters "more than a thousand troops" backed by helicopters were being deployed in the face of "an unprecedented phenomenon".

Emergency services in the Valencia region rescued almost 200 people overnight who were now being sheltered in fire stations, Basset added.

Rail and air transport was severely disrupted and the high-speed line between Valencia and Madrid remained closed.

The Spanish parliament held a minute's silence on Wednesday to honour the victims before a usually raucous session of questions to the government.