New York, February 21: Troops and rescuers are digging through mud-filled houses and streets on the Portuguese tourist island of Madeira after flash floods unleashed brown torrents that killed at least 40 people.
Portugal has rushed medical teams, rescuers, divers and relief supplies to the Atlantic island.
But morgue pathologists have also been sent in a grim warning that more bodies will be found in the mud that swept people off their feet as they tried to escape.
In the capital, Funchal, cars were overturned and roofs ripped off buildings.
Power and telephone lines were torn down but the international airport started allowing flights again yesterday from the Portuguese mainland, 900km to the northwest.
The regional government gave a new toll of at least 40 dead and 70 people detained in hospital.
Officials said no foreign tourists were among the dead, but the many British and German visitors seeking winter sun had been told to stay in their hotels. Britain said its diplomats were helping some nationals who were among the injured.
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Seventeen dead were found in Funchal. Its mayor, Miguel Albuquerque, said: “It is very probable that we will find more bodies.”
At the height of Saturday’s storm, authorities transmitted emergency messages urging people not to risk their lives by venturing out into the torrents of muddy water that poured down the hillsides and out of alleys.
Winds exceeding 100km/h, high seas and blocked roads made rescue attempts even more dangerous for emergency services.
One elderly woman died when the roof of her Funchal house caved in, and two others were crushed by a falling crane, local media reported.
“I only know what I see from my window,” Funchal resident Margarida Freitas Vieira told the Lusa news agency, describing the disaster.
“The sea is all brown, there are enormous waves.”
The mud filled some homes up to the second floor and the rescue teams from mainland Portugal were put to work clearing out the stricken buildings.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates went to Funchal on Saturday night and promised “all necessary aid so that Madeira can immediately start the work of recuperating”.
—Agencies