What caused the deadly Spain floods and what does it mean for the UK?
More than 200 people have died in Spain's worst flash floods in modern history.
The death toll from Spain's worst flash floods in modern history is now at 217.
Almost all the fatalities have been in the Valencia region, with more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta.
The Spanish government has deployed 7,500 troops to distribute food and water, clean up streets and protect shops and properties from looters.
It comes amid rising discontent over the response to the catastrophe.
Residents' anger has focused on late alerts from authorities about the flooding and a perceived delayed response by emergency services.
On Sunday, some residents in Paiporta slung mud at prime minister Pedro Sanchez and King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia, chanting: "Murderers, murderers!"
What has happened to the impacted areas?
The torrential rain on Tuesday and Wednesday caused rivers to swell, engulfing streets and the ground floors of buildings, as well as sweeping away cars and pieces of masonry in tides of mud.
It was the worst flood-related disaster in Europe in five decades.
While most households had regained power by Friday, many streets are still blocked by piled-up vehicles and debris, in some cases trapping residents in their homes.
On Monday, rescue teams were searching for bodies in underground garages, including a 5,000-space car park at the Bonaire shopping centre near Valencia airport, as well as river mouths where currents may have deposited bodies.
Hopes of finding survivors were raised over the weekend when rescuers found a woman alive after three days trapped in a car park in Montcada. People burst into applause when civil protection chief Martin Perez announced the news.
Volunteers flocked to Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences centre for the first coordinated clean-up organised by regional authorities. The venue has been turned into the nerve centre for the operation.
But in Valencia's Picanya suburb, one shop owner told Reuters: "We feel abandoned, there are many people who need help. It is not only my house, it's all the houses and we are throwing away furniture, we are throwing away everything.
"When is the help going to come to have fridges and washing machines? Because we can't even wash our clothes and we can't even have a shower."
What caused the floods in Spain?
On Thursday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said climate change was likely a factor in the severity of the floods.
Secretary-general Celeste Saulo said: "As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated. It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water."
Spain was hit by something known as Isolated Depression at High Levels, or DANA in Spanish. This occurs when cold air collides with warmer air over the Mediterranean, leading to extreme atmospheric instability.
This usually happens every autumn as the summer heat lingering over the Mediterranean comes into contact with Arctic winds coming from the north.
Omar Baddour, chief of climate monitoring at the WMO, said: "The presence of warm air near the surface being fueled by excessive moisture from the still-warm Mediterranean Sea, and the instability generated by the conflict with cold air in the upper atmosphere, leads to large convective clouds with heavy downpours and sudden flash floods.
"Climate change is expected to make these systems more intense because of warmer sea waters and increasing moisture in the atmosphere."
Ernesto Rodriguez Camino, a member of the Spanish Meteorological Association, also said: "Events of this type, which used to occur many decades apart, are now becoming more frequent and their destructive capacity is greater.”
Many have also argued the region's flood defences were not strong enough.
The WMO alluded to this on Friday, saying effective flood warning systems could help to avoid the level of destruction that occurred in Valenica.
Does this mean anything for the UK?
The DANA is a localised weather system specific to the Mediterranean, which is unlikely to have any direct effects on the UK.
But the floods are evidence of how climate change is making weather more unpredictable – and making extreme events more likely.
Dr Jess Neumann, associate professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, told Yahoo News UK: "What we're seeing with this changing climate, more chaotic weather.
"We have a warming atmosphere: we've seen about 1.1C of warming so far and what that means is the atmosphere is able to hold more moisture. So what we've seen in Spain is cooler air moving over the Mediterranean, pulling up this moisture into the atmosphere.
"It's making these big thunderclouds, which have deposited a huge amount of rain.
"Here in the UK, we obviously don't have the Mediterranean Sea, but what we do have, particularly during the summer, is intense thunderstorms that develop.
"Only a few weeks ago... we saw flash flooding across a reasonable chunk of the UK, and that was caused by unstable atmospheric conditions."
“Flash floods can affect anyone, anywhere. We take preparation for other hazards such as earthquakes and tsunamis very seriously with education, drills and emergency kits. It is time we afforded the same to flood risk preparedness.”
