Flash floods caused by heavy downpours in eastern Spain consumed homes, cars and more in a matter of minutes earlier this week. With no time to react, people were trapped in vehicles, hospitals and businesses. Many died and thousands saw livelihoods shattered.
Two days later, authorities have recovered at least 205 bodies as of Friday — 202 in the eastern Valencia region alone, two in Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia — and continue to search for an unknown number of missing people.
People have begun to clean up the thick layers of mud that covered houses and streets full of debris, all while facing power and water cuts and shortages of some basic goods. Inside some of the vehicles that the water washed into piles or crashed into buildings, there were still bodies waiting to be identified.
Here are a few things to know about Spain’s deadliest storm in living memory:
The storms concentrated over the Magro and Turia river …