The heavy rains continued as the Spanish Meteorological Agency issued further rain warnings for the southern coast of Valencia and the Tarragona and Castellón regions.

According to a quick but incomplete analysis by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming, human-caused climate change has increased rainfall in Spain by about 12% and the likelihood of a storm as violent as the flood from Valencia this week doubles role in extreme weather.

At least 158 ​​people died in the massive flash floods in Spain, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone. An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims may be found. On Thursday, emergency services searched for bodies in broken down cars and waterlogged buildings.

According to World Weather Attribution, climate change is the most likely explanation for extreme rainfall in southern Spain, as a warmer atmosphere can retain more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall. The group noted that their analysis is not a complete, detailed attribution study because scientists did not use climate models to simulate the event in a world without human-caused warming.

A terrified Valencia flood victim has revealed the extent of the devastation after severe flooding engulfed her home in minutes.

Alba Paredes Borja is from the Spanish town of Alfafar, one of the areas hardest hit by the deadly storm, where local authorities are appealing for urgent help in obtaining food, water and medical supplies.

“I'm scared. “Everything looks apocalyptic,” she said The Independent. The floods – known as the “cold drop” or DANA phenomenon – claimed 158 lives, including at least three people in the community, and left the city in ruins and cut off from all communications.

European Union officials cited the devastating flooding in Spain as a reminder of the self-harming effects of human destruction of nature.

European Commission envoy Florika Fink-Hooijer said the “catastrophe” in Spain’s Valencia region highlighted the link between biodiversity loss and the human-caused climate crisis.

“If we work for biodiversity, we can at least mitigate some of the climate impacts,” Ms. Fink-Hooijer said at a news conference.

“At this COP we really have a chance to act,” she added.

The floods have destroyed bridges and obscured roads as they have become floating cemeteries.

Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and created rivers that flooded homes and businesses, carrying cars, people and anything else in their path.

Luis Sanchez, a welder, said he rescued several people trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of the city of Valencia.

The road quickly turned into a floating graveyard with hundreds of vehicles lying on it.

“I saw bodies floating by. I called out, but nothing,” Mr. Sanchez said.

“The firefighters took in the older people first when they were able to get in. I come from close by and tried to help and save people.”

“People were crying everywhere, they were trapped.”

Weather warnings are in effect across much of Spain as more storms loom following devastating floods that have claimed at least 158 ​​lives – making it the country's worst natural disaster in living memory.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has warned that the devastation caused by flash floods is “not yet over” as he declared Valencia a “disaster area” on Thursday. He urged residents to stay in their homes, saying: “The most important thing at the moment is to protect as many lives as possible.”

Cities like Valencia and Malaga were flooded this week after nearly a year's worth of rain – almost half a meter – fell in some areas in just eight hours, leaving residents “like rats” in houses and cars, as one desperate local mayor described remembers the chaos.

my colleague Andy Gregory Reports:

Emergency workers searched for bodies in broken down cars and waterlogged buildings as residents rescued what they could from their destroyed homes after devastating flash floods in Spain that killed at least 158 ​​people. 155 deaths have been confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone.

Further horror emerged Thursday from the rubble and pervasive layers of mud left by the walls of water, leading to Spain's deadliest natural disaster in living memory.

The damage caused by the storm late Tuesday and early Wednesday was reminiscent of the aftermath of a tsunami that left survivors picking up debris while mourning their loved ones.

Cars piled up like toppled dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items – all submerged in mud that covered the streets in dozens of municipalities in Valencia, a region south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.

An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims may be found.

“Unfortunately there are dead people in some vehicles,” Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente said early Thursday, before the death toll shot up from 95 on Wednesday evening.

Tuesday's rains, dubbed the “flood of the century”, left large parts of southern and eastern Spain completely devastated by torrents of muddy water.

As cars tumbled across streets in Valencia and village streets became rivers, the army was called in to help with the ongoing rescue operation.

my colleague Athena Stavrou Reports: