EMERGENCY workers checked stranded cars and sodden buildings for dead bodies today after monstrous flash floods hit Spain’s Valcenia region, leaving scenes of devastation and claiming at least 140 lives.

With an unknown number of people still missing, the death toll could rise as search efforts continue.

The aftermath reportedly resembled the damage left by a strong hurricane or tsunami.

Wrecked vehicles, tree branches, collapsed power cables and household items all mired in mud covered the streets of Utiel, just one of dozens of towns in the hard-hit region, where at least 92 people died. 

Walls of rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that ripped into the ground floors of homes and swept away cars, people and anything else in their path.

“The neighbourhood is destroyed. All the cars are on top of each other. It’s literally smashed up,” said Christian Viena, a bar owner in the Valencian village of Barrio de la Torre.

Regional authorities said on Wednesday night that no-one appeared to be left stranded on rooftops or in cars in need of rescue after helicopters had saved some 70 people. 

Thousands were left without water and electricity and hundreds were stranded when their cars were wrecked or roads were blocked. The region remains partly isolated, with several roads cut and railway lines blocked.

The regional government is facing criticism for not sending out flood warnings to people’s mobile phones until Tuesday night, when the flooding had already started in some parts.

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 the country and the heating of the Mediterranean Sea.