‘I keep calling it a horror film’: Spaniards recount flooding as clean-up begins

Mud is still inches deep on the streets of Utiel, in the Valencia region, as the clean-up operation begins after the floods. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Miguel Aleixandre, a supermarket worker and competitive power-lifter who lives in the small Valencian town of Utiel, was mid-workout on Tuesday morning at his gym when the staff suddenly announced they were closing up because of the torrential rains that had been pummelling the streets since dawn.

The sheer volume of those rains, which have so far claimed at least 205 lives across eastern, central and southern Spain, was becoming more and more apparent as the waters of the Magro – a river that is normally little more than a stream through Utiel – began to rise and rise.