British man, 71, dies after being rescued from Spain floods

· BBC News
Image source, EPA

Alex Smith
BBC News
Ian Aikman
BBC News

A British man has died hours after being rescued from his home on the outskirts of Málaga, Spain, after intense flooding hit parts of the country, local officials say.

The 71-year-old - who has not been named - had been taken to hospital after the rescue, and was "suffering from hypothermia", according to the president of the Andalusian government, in southern Spain.

He died after suffering "several cardiac arrests", Juanma Moreno said.

At least 95 people have died after heavy rain and hailstorms triggered flash floods on Tuesday.

Most of these deaths - 92 - have come in the eastern city of Valencia.

Two more died in the central Castilla-La-Mancha region.

There are fears the death toll could rise in the coming days as many people remain missing across affected areas.

Local officials in the town of Chiva, near Valencia, said it was "impossible" to put a final figure on the number of people who have perished.

More than a year's worth of rain fell there in just eight hours on Tuesday.

Footage posted on social media from the region shows neighbourhoods destroyed and cars piled up in the street.

Meteorologists believe the extreme weather is due, in part, to the Dana phenomenon - when a pool of cold air interacts with an area of low pressure to create an intensely unstable atmospheric environment.

While studies suggest Dana events occur many times each year in the western Mediterranean, the intensity of such rainfall events appears to be increasing due to climate change.

In a national address on Wednesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged residents of regions including Andalusia, Catalonia and Valencia to remain vigilant as several weather warnings remained in place.

“For those who are still looking for their loved ones, the whole of Spain weeps with you," he said.

Territorial policy minister Ángel Víctor Torres said it was still unclear how many people were missing.

More than 1,000 troops were deployed to help with rescue efforts on Wednesday, but many crews struggled to reach affected towns due to flooded roads and downed power lines.

The Spanish government has declared three days of national mourning from Thursday. Some disaster relief authorities are facing criticism for being too slow to issue warnings during the worst of the weather.

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