Missing British couple found dead days after devastating Spanish floods killing more than 200 people

A missing British couple has been found dead days after the devastating Spanish floods.

More than 200 people have died following the tragedy last Tuesday (29 October) and thousands have had their homes destroyed by the wall of water and mud.

Spain’s worst natural disaster in living memory, the flash floods hit hardest in the eastern region of Valencia while many people returned home from work in the evening.

Muddy water covered roads and railways, entering homes and businesses as drivers took to safety on car roofs.

When authorities sent a warning alert to mobile phones, asking people to stay at home, many were already on the roads, at work or covered in water.

Soldiers were eventually deployed to help rescue efforts, as bodies were recovered and people remained missing.

And it was confirmed on Sunday (3 November) that an elderly British couple had been found dead in what was left of their home.

Mayor Andoni Leon confirmed the news, saying volunteering locals had found them in an area near Pedralba where they lived.

He added that the remains of a Spanish man were also recovered following a town hall-led attempt to locate those unaccounted for following the devastating floods because they had not yet received outside help.

The floods have now killed three British nationals as a 71-year-old man died in hospital after a boat rescued him from his flooded home near Malaga.

His partner had alerted authorities because he was reportedly having a heart attack and suffering from hypothermia. He was taken to hospital and died in the early hours on Wednesday (30 October) after suffering multiple organ failure.

After Leon voiced his concerns about the lack of help in the area, the first members of the military arrived.

Yesterday, angry survivors pelted Spain’s Spain’s King Felipe VI and top government officials with mud as they visited one of the hardest-hit areas.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was also evacuated from the scene when they started to walk the mud-covered streets of Paiporta, just outside of Valencia, where at least 60 people have died.

The King and Queen still attempted to speak to residents as people cried and told them they ‘don’t have any water’.

There is great anger in the region around the delay of the authorities’ alert and the speed of response from officials, with much of the clean-up led by volunteers and residents.

“I want to express all my government’s solidarity and its acknowledgement of the anguish, suffering, uncertainty and the needs of the residents of Paiporta and the region of Valencia,” Sanchez said.