Spain floods: 'It's carnage and like a war zone'

A group of British visitors caught up in the devastation in Spain have spoken of the moment the flash floods hit, killing scores of people.

Matthias Bachler's 12-year-old son Jacob was due to compete at an international go-karting racing tournament in Valencia.

The pair travelled there on Tuesday, along with mechanic and friend Daniel Ross, just before the heavy rain swept through the eastern province.

Mr Ross said he and another friend were among 600 people trapped in a large shopping centre the night they arrived after the ground-floor flooded.

At least 155 people have been confirmed dead and dozens more are missing, according to authorities in Valencia.

"It's carnage, really. Everything's just destroyed," said Jacob, who lives with his father in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

"I want to go home because it's just carnage. We're locked in. We can't escape."

Mr Bachler, 44, described the scenes as being similar to a war zone.

"There were just cars overturned, houses and bridges collapsed, roads washed away, deep mud everywhere," he said.

"The bridge we went over the day before was actually not there anymore. It was pretty terrifying."

Mr Ross, from Heage, near Belper, Derbyshire, said he and his friend stopped at the Bonaire mall for food. Their van, which contained all the racing equipment, including the go-kart, was parked outside when floodwater engulfed the area.

"We were wading through the water. There were fridges, tables and products just floating everywhere," said Mr Ross.

"We then went up the escalator to get up to higher ground in the mall and we soon realised that actually the water was just coming and coming and coming and getting deeper and deeper – it was between sort of six and eight-feet deep at this point."

Mr Ross said they were trapped in the shopping mall and sought refuge in a cinema.

"I think in total there were about 600 people there," he said.

"We just didn't really know what the outcome was, when we were going to be rescued, whether the floodwater was going to go away. We didn't know anything.

"It was really quite worrying, that's for sure."

Help eventually arrived and those trapped in the mall were rescued.

"The destruction and the clear-up is just completely unbelievable," said Mr Ross.

While Mr Ross was trapped, Mr Bachler and Jacob had managed to reach their high-rise apartment but were left with no electricity or running water.

"I was a bit worried, really, because our apartment door wasn't particularly secure, so we got quite a lot of rain coming into the apartment," said Jacob.

He had been looking forward to competing in the go-kart race, which was "one of the biggest events in the world", but his equipment was destroyed by the water.

However, he and his father are safe, and "everything's being cleared up", with electricity and the water supply restored to their apartment.

"We are absolutely devastated for the people who live here and who are affected," said Mr Bachler.

Mr Ross added: "We're all still upset, but you've got to keep on going. There are a lot of people that are much worse off and we've just got to be grateful for what we've still got."

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