After returning to his home, local resident Juan Perez said: “My whole life, my memories.
“My parents lived there. And now everything is gone in one night.”
The civil protection agency, which is overseen by the regional government, issued an emergency warning to the phones of people in and around the city of Valencia after 8:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT) on Tuesday, by which time the floodwaters were fast. is growing in many areas and in some cases is already wreaking havoc.
Juan Gonzalez, who lives in the town of Aldaya, said flash flooding is possible in the area.
“It’s outrageous that our local government didn’t do anything about it, knowing it was going to happen,” he said.
In the devastated town of Paiport, where more than 60 deaths have been reported so far, residents have expressed frustration that aid has been slow to arrive.
“There aren’t enough firefighters, the shovels haven’t arrived,” Paco Clemente, a 33-year-old pharmacist who was helping clean up a friend’s house, told AFP.