People wade through a flooded street after torrential rains in Orihuela, Spain, September 14, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca
September 14, 2019
ORIHUELA, Spain (Reuters) – A 41-year-old man was found dead in southeastern Spain on Saturday, the local government said, bringing to at least six the death toll inflicted over the past two days by record-breaking rain.
More than 1,100 military personnel have been deployed to the regions of Murcia and Valencia to help rescue people isolated by the deluge and evacuate thousands to safety after a river burst its banks and cascades of water submerged highways.
The most recent victim was from the town of Orihuela, around 55 kilometers (34 miles) from the seaside town of Alicante, where acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the emergency response command center.
“Sadly, we mourn another fatality in Orihuela,” Sanchez said on Twitter.
Three men were found dead on Friday, including one who tried to drive through a flooded tunnel, and two siblings perished on Thursday when their car was carried away by water.
The national weather agency maintained its weather risk alert at the third-highest level on a four-point scale for several areas in the center and south of Spain.
(Reporting by Jon Nazca in Orihuela and Isla Binnie in Madrid; Editing by Stephen Powell)
