Death toll rises to 205 as more rain batters Spain

MADRID — As the death toll passed 200 from floods this week that triggered the deadliest natural disaster in Spain’s recent history, southern regions were battered by more heavy downfalls Friday, complicating an already strained rescue effort.

Valencia, the region that suffered the worst of the deluge, recorded 202 deaths, regional President Carlos Mazón said at a news conference at the disaster coordination center.

Three more people have died in neighboring regions, bringing the total of confirmed deaths to 205, according to authorities. That toll was expected to rise as rescue workers continued to dig through sodden towns, clogged with mud and debris, making access extremely challenging.

Late Thursday and Friday, rains spread to other southern regions. Heavy rain fell overnight in Andalusia, with the western province of Huelva the worst hit. Residents were out celebrating Halloween when sheets of rain began to fall, local news media reported. Authorities urged people to stay home and avoid celebrating All Saints Day on Friday, which is usually done by visiting a cemetery or church, warning of the risk of flooding.

“This Friday the most complicated situation will be in the southwest of the peninsula,” said Rubén del Campo, spokesperson for the national meteorological agency. “The instability will continue on Saturday.”

While the southwest was on high alert, along the east coast rescue workers were still searching through piles of cars flung by floodwater and homes ripped through by mud. Rain continued Friday, particularly in Castellón, north of the Valencia region; in Tarragona, in the southern Catalonia region; and on the Balearic Islands, off Spain’s east coast, according to the weather agency.

In Valencia, dozens were still missing. Among them were prominent business executives, older parents in nursing homes and young children trapped with their mothers, according to coverage in Spanish media.

Ainhoa ​​Rojas Mansilla watched as rescue workers combed through her municipality of Catarroja, outside the city of Valencia, where she was taking shelter with friends. Every time a member of the emergency military unit checked a vehicle, she was gripped with anxiety, she said.

“We are very uncertain every time someone enters a garage because we know there may be dead people trapped in the cars,” she said in a text message.

Despite the presence of some rescue workers, Mansilla, 20, said she felt unsafe, and wanted to see more police on the ground. Her family had all survived the flooding but they remained without water or electricity, and information about what to do in this disaster was inconsistent, she said.

In the wake of the huge damage suffered in Valencia, some residents have begun to blame the government for an insufficient response to the disaster. A video posted by the civil guard of a man caught stealing a bag of shoes caused public outrage. Many people sympathized with the man, who was barefoot as he waded through the mud. Spain’s police said they had arrested 50 people, while trying to secure storm-battered neighborhoods.

The flooding has exposed Spain’s economic fault lines. Daiana Iordăchescu, a seasonal laborer from Romania who works in Huelva’s strawberry and raspberry fields, cowered as buckets of rain pounded her shack. The plastic sheeting was not enough to keep water from seeping through the wooden pallets she and other workers used to build their homes.

“I feel scared, I don’t know when this will stop,” she said in a telephone interview. “I feel like I’m in Noah’s Ark. It’s raining inside my house.”

Many of the 3,000 seasonal workers in Huelva are in similar straits, their makeshift homes collapsing, but pleas for help have gone unheeded, said Alfonso Romera, a retired ophthalmologist who runs a nonprofit group, La Carpa, that supports migrant workers.

“These people are the ones who feed us and are essential to the Spanish economy,” he said. “We just want the authorities to put these people under shelter.”

The regional government in Andalusia acknowledged that seasonal workers were vulnerable but said that no incidents had been reported to their office.

The natural disaster has also become a political test for Spain’s fragile coalition government. On Friday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will visit the national meteorological society’s office in Madrid, far from the worst-affected areas. Observers say it is a show of solidarity for the agency, which has faced criticism from political leaders who say its warnings came too late. Opposition leaders have blamed the government for centralizing response efforts.

Along with hundreds of officers from the national police, civil guard and other security forces, the military sent 750 soldiers to join the rescue effort, Spain’s Defense Ministry said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.