Spain searches for bodies after unprecedented flooding claims at least 158 lives

BARRIO DE LA TORRE, Spain (AP) — Crews searched for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings Thursday as residents salvaged what they could from their ruined homes following monstrous flash floods in Spain that claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone.

More horrors emerged Thursday from the debris and ubiquitous layers of mud left by the walls of water that produced Spain's deadliest natural disaster in living memory. The damage recalled the aftermath of a tsunami, with survivors left to pick up the pieces as they mourn their loved ones.

Cars were piled on one another like fallen dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items all mired in mud that covered streets in dozens of communities in Valencia, a region south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.

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

“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said early Thursday before the death toll spiked from 95 on Wednesday night.

Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in its path. The floods demolished bridges and left roads unrecognizable.

Luís Sánchez, a welder, said he saved several people who were trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of Valencia city. The road rapidly became a floating graveyard strewn with hundreds of vehicles.

“I saw bodies floating past. I called out, but nothing,” Sánchez said. “The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”

Regional authorities said late Wednesday that rescuers in helicopters saved some 70 people stranded on rooftops and in cars, but ground crews were far from done.

“Our priority is to find the victims and the missing so we can help end the suffering of their families,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said after meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday, the first of three official days of mourning.

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flood event in recent memory. Scientists link it to climate change, which is also behind increasingly high temperatures and droughts in Spain and the heating up of the Mediterranean Sea.

Human-caused climate change has doubled the likelihood of a storm like this week’s deluge in Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, comprising dozens of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather.

Spain has been suffering from an almost two-year drought, meaning that when the deluge happened late Tuesday and early Wednesday, the ground was so hard that it could not absorb the rain, leading to flash floods.

The violent weather event surprised regional government officials. Spain’s national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian town of Chiva than it had in the preceding 20 months, calling the deluge “extraordinary.”

In Paiporta, a community of 25,000 next to Valencia city where mayor Maribel Albalat said Thursday that not fewer than 62 people had perished.

“(Paiporta) never has floods, we never have this kind of problem. And we found a lot of elderly people in the town center,” Albalat told national broadcaster RTVE. “There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages ... it was a real trap.’

While the most suffering was inflicted on municipalities near the city of Valencia, the storms unleashed their fury over huge swaths of the south and eastern coast of the Iberian peninsula. Two fatalities were confirmed in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region and one in southern Andalusia.

Greenhouses and farms across southern Spain, known as Europe’s garden for its exported produce, were also ruined by heavy rains and flooding. The storms spawned a freak tornado in Valencia and a hail storm that punched holes in cars in Andalusia. Homes were left without water as far southwest as Malaga in Andalusia.

Heavy rains continued Thursday farther north as the Spanish weather agency issued alerts for several counties in Castellón, in the eastern Valencia region, and for Tarragona in Catalonia, as well as southwest Cadiz.

“This storm front is still with us,” the prime minister said. “Stay home and heed the official recommendation and you will help save lives.”

Over 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency rescue units joined regional and local emergency workers in the search for bodies and survivors.

“We are searching house by house,” Ángel Martínez, with a military emergency unit, told Spain’s national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.

An Associated Press journalist saw rescuers remove seven body bags from an underground garage in Barrio de la Torre on Thursday.

Many residents in both towns had to walk long distances in sticky mud to find food and water. Many of their cars had been destroyed and the mud, destruction and debris left by the storm made some roads unpassable. Some pushed shopping carts along sodden streets while others carried their children to keep them out of the muck.

Valencia regional President Carlos Mazón on Thursday asked if Spain’s army could assist with distributing basic goods to the population.

The National Police arrest 39 people for looting on Wednesday. The Civil Guard deployed officers to stop further thefts from homes, cars and shopping malls.

Some 150,000 people in Valencia were without electricity on Wednesday, but roughly half had power by Thursday, Spanish news agency EFE reported. An unknown number did not have running water and were relying on whatever bottled water they could find.

The region remained partly isolated with several roads cut off and train lines interrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid. Officials said it will take two to three weeks to repair that damaged line.

A man wept as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his home in Catarroja, south of Valencia. It looked as though a bomb had detonated inside, obliterating furniture and belongings, and stripping the paint off some walls.

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain and Medrano from Madrid. Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C., contributed.

Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Two people push a cart loaded with belongings in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Residents clean their house affected by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Residents clean their house affected by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

People walk in an area affected by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Members of the Spanish Guardia Civil carry the body of a person who died during floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A man stands among flooded cars piled up in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A man stands among flooded cars piled up in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods on a motorway in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Members of the local police react to the news of one of their colleagues who died in the floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Residents clean their house affected by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Residents clean their houses affected by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods on a motorway in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Members of the local police react to the news of one of their colleagues who died in the floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A man reacts in front of houses affected by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People pick up goods in a supermarket affected by the floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A man stands next to flooded cars piled up in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Residents react as they wait for news of their relatives trapped during the floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Residents react as they wait for news of their relatives trapped during the floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A man reacts as he waits for news of his relatives trapped during the floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A woman is taken away in an ambulance after being rescued from the floods in Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Residents look at cars piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

People walk along the road after leaving their homes flooded by the floods in Valencia, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Emergency crew members walk past cars piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

People walk on muddy roads after floods in Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Flooded cars are piled up in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People walk along the road after leaving their homes flooded by the floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A person removes mud after the floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A man cleans his house hit by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Train tracks are seen affected by floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Residents walk next to cars piled up after being swept away by floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Train tracks are seen covered by branches after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Train tracks are seen affected by floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

People stand in front of their houses affected by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A man reacts in his house affected by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A man cleans his house affected by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People clean their houses affected by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A man reacts in front of houses affected by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

A man cleans his house affected by floods in Utiel, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Democrat Kamala Harris says recent comments by her opponent, Republican Donald Trump, are “very offense” and that it's clear he doesn't understand women.

She was responding to Trump, who said Wednesday that he will protect women, “whether the women like it or not.” The subtext of both Trump's and Harris' comments appears to be a 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned federal abortion rights. Trump appointed three of the justices to the court who formed the conservative majority.

Harris said Thursday that Trump's comments are “offensive” to women and “their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.”

Meanwhile, Trump is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the campaign’s final days. It’s a risky detour from the seven battleground states to spend time in places where Republican presidential candidates haven’t won in decades.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here's the latest:

Detroit has about 524,000 registered voters and it’s anticipated that voter turnout for this election will be somewhere between 51% and 55%, City Clerk Janice Winfrey told reporters Thursday.

Detroit voter turnout in the 2020 general election was 51%.

Security has been heightened and there will be a heavy police presence at Huntington Place convention center in downtown Detroit where ballots will be counted Tuesday night.

Winfrey says her office has been working with local police agencies, Michigan’s attorney general’s office and the Justice Department on what she calls a “comprehensive security plan throughout this week and the days moving forward.”

“This plan will continue through election night to insure the safety of our election workers and the integrity of the election process,” Winfrey said.

Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump’s comments on women at his latest rally were “very offensive.”

“He does not prioritize the freedom of women and the intelligence of women to make decisions about their own lives and bodies,” she said.

At a rally Wednesday, Trump embellished upon an earlier pledge to “protect” women by adding: “I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not.”

Harris said Thursday that the health care protections under the Affordable Care Act are on the line on Election Day.

She was responding to a comment by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who told Trump supporters that there would be “massive reform” to the law if Trump wins the presidential election.

Harris told reporters on Thursday morning in Wisconsin that it "has been a part of Donald Trump’s agenda for a very long time. He has made dozens of attempts to get rid of the ACA and now we have further validation of that agenda from his supporter, the speaker of the House.”

Trump was unsuccessful in repealing the health care law during his first four years in office, despite multiple Republican attempts. The most dramatic came in 2017 when the late Sen. John McCain, with a simple thumbs down, voted against repealing the law.

Hillary Clinton, the former first lady who ran as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, will campaign in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday to support the Harris-Walz campaign.

Clinton, who also served as the secretary of state during the Obama administration, will be attending two get-out-the-vote events to encourage voters to cast their ballots early.

Clinton endorsed Harris after her campaign launched in July, and the former first lady headlined fundraisers and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of the vice president.

Gwen Walz, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath and Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson campaigned for Harris in Georgia, a key battleground state.

“This election is truly about life or death,” said McBath at a cafe north of Atlanta. “Women, particularly Black women and women of color in our state, are not getting access to the quality health care that they need and deserve.”

Walz, the wife of Harris running mate Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, said now is not the time for supporters to rest.

“This election is the ultimate group project,” said Walz, a teacher by profession. “And guess what? It’s pass/fail.”

At a rally Wednesday, Trump embellished upon an earlier pledge to “protect” women by adding: “I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not.”

Walz slammed Trump for that comment.

She has a message for the other side, she said, and the crowd chanted it in unison:

“Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance, please mind your own business!”

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says he had a phone call with Trump early Thursday in which he wished him luck on Election Day.

Trump regularly praises Orbán during his speeches, reminding supporters that the autocratic leader who has cozied up with Russia and China sees the former president as a respected and feared leader in the world.

Orbán had previously thrown his support for Trump and visited him in his Mar-a-Lago estate in July.

“Just got off the phone with President @realDonaldTrump . I wished him the best of luck for next Tuesday. Only five days to go. Fingers crossed,” Orbán posted on X.

A judge in Philadelphia has put a state challenge of Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes on hold while lawyers for the billionaire and his political action committee try to move the lawsuit to federal court.

The giveaways aim to boost Trump’s presidential campaign through Election Day. Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner calls the America PAC sweepstakes an illegal lottery under Pennsylvania law.

Experts on election law question whether it violates federal law against vote-buying. Judge Angelo Foglietta heard motions from both sides on Thursday in a City Hall courtroom.

Rapper Cardi B will speak at Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Milwaukee on Friday, the latest in a long line of celebrities who have stumped for the Democratic nominee in the closing days of the 2024 campaign.

The Harris campaign announced the addition on Thursday. The event will also feature performances by GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte, The Isley Brothers, DJ GEMINI GILLY.

This is not the first time Cardi B has jumped into the political fray. The rapper was close to Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2020, including lauding his first run in 2016 and appearing in a video meant to appeal to young voters. She has also been an outspoken critic of Trump and supported President Joe Biden in 2020.

“I’m tired of getting upset every single time I see this man talk,” she said of Trump before Election Day in 2020.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk doesn't like a campaign ad for Harris that says a woman doesn't need to consult her husband when choosing who to vote for.

The ad shows a woman in a voting booth, casting a ballot for Harris. Then, as she leaves, her husband asks her if she made “the right choice” — strongly suggesting that the ‘right choice’ is Trump.

“Sure did honey," she responds.

Kirk, speaking on conservative Megyn Kelly’s podcast, labeled the ad “the embodiment of the downfall of the American family.”

The ad was by Vote Common Good, an outside organization that aims to target progressive, religious voters.

Harris has a new campaign ad in Spanish that will air in battleground states that seizes on comments made about Puerto Ricans during a Trump rally.

The ad, in Spanish, questions why a comic at the rally in New York would call the U.S. territory a “floating island of garbage.”

The ad's announcer says: “This Nov. 5 Trump will understand that some people’s trash is others’ treasure.”

Since the rally, Latino celebrities and leaders have come out in support of the Democratic nominee.

The ad is part of a larger $370 million buy, and will air on Univision and Telemundo during high viewership telenovelas, and on digital platforms including El Nuevo Día, YouTube and Snapchat.

Billions of dollars in ads are raining down on voters across the Rust Belt, Rocky Mountains and American Southwest as the two major political parties struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.

Republicans need to pick up two seats to capture a surefire majority, and one of those — West Virginia — is all but in the bag for the GOP.

Republican strategists say they’re targeting seven other states where Democrats are defending seats: Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Democrats, conversely, say they are forcing competitive contests in two red states, Texas and Nebraska.

Data from political ad tracking firm AdImpact projects that more than $2.5 billion will be spent on advertising in Senate races in this two-year campaign cycle, slightly more than the 2022 total.

Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Nicky Jam has withdrawn his endorsement of Trump.

Tony Hinchcliffe — a comic who called Puerto Rico “garbage” before a packed Trump rally in New York — appears to be the catalyst.

In a video statement posted to his Instagram, Jam says he thought Trump would be good for the economy. But after Hinchcliffe’s comments, he says can no longer support the former president.

Other Puerto Rican superstars have backed Harris, including Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin.

Trump is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the campaign’s final days — choosing to stump for votes in states that Republicans haven't won in decades.

The former president will campaign in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday during a swing that will also take him to the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada.

He’ll be in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday. The Trump team is projecting optimism and thinks he can be competitive against Harris in New Mexico and Virginia.

A Philadelphia judge is set to hold a hearing in the city prosecutor’s bid to shut down Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day sweepstakes in battleground states.

The giveaways come from Musk’s political organization, which aims to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign through Election Day.

Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner hopes to stop the America PAC sweepstakes. Judge Angelo Foglietta will hear motions Thursday on the issue in a City Hall courtroom. Matthew Haverstick is one of several lawyers representing the defendants.

Lawyers for Musk filed a motion late Wednesday seeking to move the case to federal court. However, a spokesperson for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday the initial hearing at City Hall was still scheduled.

Across the U.S., people’s phones are pinging with text messages from Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and their allies.

Both sides are working the texting pipeline aggressively in the presidential campaign’s last days. It’s a cheap and easy way to reach millions of potential donors and voters.

It’s also an aggravation for many. At recent Harris and Trump rallies, some of the attendees said enough already. But the texting torrent is not bound to let up before Election Day next week, if it even does then.

A new poll from The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that about 7 in 10 Americans report feeling anxious or frustrated about the 2024 presidential campaign, and a similar share say they’re interested.

Only about one-third say they feel excited.

About 7 in 10 Americans say “anxious” describes how they are feeling ahead of Tuesday. For partisans, anxiety is dialed a little higher than before.

About 8 in 10 Democrats say “anxious” describes how they are feeling now, up slightly from the last election. About two-thirds of Republicans are anxious, a moderate uptick from 2020.

A text is viewed on a mobile device Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Washington, as across the U.S., people's phones are pinging with text messages from Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and their allies in the presidential campaign's final days. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

People wait in line for a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Lee's Family Forum, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Henderson, Nev. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Stage construction has begun, for a Harris/Walz election eve rally, in front of the Art Museum in Philadelphia on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Resch Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)