Spain floods latest: Fresh flooding fears as red rain alert issued amid rising deaths

An extra 500 soliders are being deployed to the Valencia region to boost rescue efforts as many more people remain missing.

More than 1,000 Spanish soldiers were initially deployed when flash floods hit eastern Spain earlier this week, but more are set to join.

Spain’s defence minister, Margarita Robles, said on Friday. “Their missions include helping to dig out people who may be in basements or lower floors – unfortunately there are a lot of them – and helping to pump out water [from roads] to allow transportation so that food and water can reach certain populations.”

Effective flood warning systems could help to avoid the level of destruction that has occurred in the Valencia region of Spain this week, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday.

“We do need to ensure that the early warnings reach those who need them,” WMO official Clare Nullis told a regular UN briefing. “We need to ensure that early warnings lead to informed early action.”

Nullis declined to comment on whether Madrid had acted too slowly in warning residents about the floods, saying only that it was something that “Spanish authorities need to examine”.

Hundreds of volunteers have been pictured walking towards the La Torre neighborhood to help people affected by the flash flooding.

The deadly floods left cars piled up like toys in streets, swallowed homes, and covered entire neighbourhoods in sludge and debris.

Thousands of people are still facing power and water cuts and shortages of basic goods, especially in the eastern region, the worst affected.

Here’s all we know about the devastating floods, the causes, and the scale of the impact.

Entire homes in the areas worst-affected by flash flooding have “disappeared”, a mayor of a small town in Valencia has said.

Chiva Mayor, Amparo Fort, told local media this morning that citizens needed more financial aid from the government as the full extent of the damage comes to light.

“Entire houses have disappeared,” she said. “We don’t know if they are with or without people.”

She added: “We continue to ask for food and water. We need milk, mashed food for babies and the elderly.”

An expat teacher living south of Valencia in Spain says he is unable to leave his town due to being “surrounded by water” following flash flooding in the region.

John Fahy, 55, who lives in a seaside town called Cullera, also reported there being no food in the supermarkets, with no new supplies expected for a while.

“The army was only sent in two, three hours ago, because now they’re finding more bodies in garages,” Mr Fahy, from Dublin, said.

“We can’t leave our town because it’s flooded all around. There’s no-one in the shops in Cullera because there’s no food and there won’t be for a while.”

There are a number of weather warnings in place in the areas hit by flash flooding – as well as more severe alerts in other parts of Spain.

In the province of Valencia – which saw the worst impacts of the flooding – there are several yellow and amber weather warnings in place. This means those most affected by the floods are expecting even more rain.

In the south west of the country a red weather alert has been put in place int the province of Huelva.

As Spanish rescue workers continue their search for those still missing in the worst flooding disaster the country has seen in modern history, here is what we know on Friday morning:

– The official death toll in now 158 – will 155 of those coming from the worst-hit province of Valencia.

– The death toll is expected to rise as an unkown number of people remain missing.

– Spain is in its second day of a three-day national mourning period. Flags are flying half mast across the country and a minute of silence was held on Thursday.

– Valencia has been declared a disaster zone.