British man among 140 dead in worst natural disaster to hit Spain in century

The man, 71, died after being rescued from the flooding, which wiped out villages in south east of the country.

Rescuers warned bodies were still trapped in cars as the official death toll reached 140.

Wrecked vehicles, tree branches, downed power lines and household items all covered in a layer of mud covered the streets of Utiel, just one of dozens of towns in the hard-hit region of Valencia.

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 its 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.

“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s transport minister Oscar Puente said in reference to hundreds of cars and trucks stranded on roads stained brown with mud.

Juanma Moreno, leader of the Andalusia regional government, reported the British man’s death.

He wrote on social media: "He was suffering from hypothermia and died after suffering several cardiac arrests."

While Valencia took the brunt of the storm, another two casualties were reported in the neighbouring Castilla La Mancha region. Southern Andalusia reported one death.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is heading to the region to witness the destruction first hand as the nation continues a three-day period of official mourning.