A Cavan woman living in Valencia has detailed the ‘horrific’ effects of floods that have hit the Spanish region and revealed people are ‘still looking for their loved ones’.

A total of 217 people, almost all of them from the region, lost their lives in the flood that started last Tuesday.

A British couple was among those found dead after severe storms devastated parts of the southeast.

‘DOMORIOUS’

English assistant Leigha Plunkett revealed people were ‘very angry’ at the Government’s response to the flooding, detailing community efforts to help those worst affected.

Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland on Monday, Leigha described the situation as ‘horrible’, saying there were dead animals in the street and cars were ‘on top of each other’.

He said: ‘There are still people in those cars looking for their loved ones. Apocalypse is probably the only way I can describe it.

‘This is like a nightmare.’

Leigha, who lives in the ‘completely unscathed’ city, told how she grabbed a bucket and sweeping brush and made the 40-minute walk into the local town to help him out.

‘I just walked into a random house, I could hear someone saying: ‘Can you help here? I walked in and immediately started helping; “I dismantled furniture, cleaned floors and did that kind of thing,” he said, adding that the people he helped were a man in his 70s and his two daughters.

The trio had been trapped upstairs in their home for 48 hours, with only a biscuit and water between them.

ANGER

Leigha noted that there is some level of organizing between the local community, social media and hearing about it on the street.

‘We went for a walk yesterday and followed the crowd,’ he said, ‘There are no instructions from the government or anything like that.’

The teacher, whose school has been closed for a week, said there was a lot of anger.

Leigha recalled people thanking her for her help and telling her that if it weren’t for people like her, they would still be without food.

At the weekend, when the disaster entered its fifth day, military members were seen in the town for the first time.

‘Before this it was just people from the towns helping out and people were very angry,’ Leigha said.

KING VISIT

This follows the violent backlash King Felipe and Queen Letizia faced as they were called ‘murderers’ and pelted with mud and stones during their weekend visit.

Residents of the town of Paiporta, which was most affected by the earthquake, shouted ‘murderer’ and ‘get out’ to the royal entourage. Valencia.

The king’s guards attempted to protect the couple by forming a protective ring around them and opening umbrellas, but the royal family was still covered in dirt and hit by bullets.

The anger at the monarchy comes after claims local people were not warned sufficiently in advance of the floods and subsequently suffered a lack of assistance.

Worryingly, Spain’s meteorological agency issued a new warning for more heavy rains.