The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Valencia, Spain, has reached 217, as the search for survivors - and bodies - continued in devastated cities and towns left caked in mud and strewn with debris, writes ABC NEWS.

“The situation we are living in is tragic”, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in Spanish during a televised national address, describing the discovery of bodies in garages, homes, riverbanks and roads. “We are almost certainly talking about the most serious flooding our continent has seen so far this century. And I am aware that the response that is being given is not enough”.

Sánchez said the government is sending 10,000 soldiers and police to the eastern region of Valencia, about 200 miles east of Madrid, to assist local authorities: “We have activated the largest deployment, which has already carried out 4,800 rescues and has helped more than 30,000 people in flooded homes, roads and industrial estates. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the catastrophe means that they are insufficient”.