Northern Ireland woman describes 'heartbreaking' flood devastation in Valencia

A Northern Ireland woman who runs a language school outside Valencia has told UTV how she feared for her life and the lives of her students after her village was hit by the floods last week.

The death toll is expected to rise significantly as hundreds of people remain missing, with many trapped in underground carparks.

Pamela Smyth described 'apocalyptic' scenes and a growing anger among residents who were not alerted of the danger in time.

"I was waist high in water so you can imagine the children we had.. the water was so high it was really scary, I've never feared for my life before but I honestly did fear for my life and everyone's lives on Tuesday, it was horrendous," the former Antrim teacher said.

"It was the scariest situation I've ever been in.

"The current was far too strong, cars were starting to be washed away, and we got to the corner of where our building is, and I was so lucky to find a car which had been pushed into ... a rubbish container which was fixed to the ground, and I managed to hold on to the wing mirror otherwise I would have been washed away."

She continued: "We didn't really know the magnitude of what had happened until we woke up the next morning.

"We did our best to get a few hours sleep, we had people everywhere in the house trying to find a place to get a few hours sleep and we woke when it was daylight and there are no words to describe what we saw."

More than 200 people have died after heavy downpours triggered flash floods in the eastern part of Spain, while searches for an unknown number of missing people are continuing.

"The volunteers have just been coming in droves with their brushes, spades - they don't even ask, they see what they have to do and they just do it," continued Pamela Smyth.

"I actually broke down in tears, it was so heart-warming.

"The destruction is just huge, it really is. I can see the army, I can see the emergency services outside still trying to rescue people from ground floors, from garages which have been flooded.

"It's heartbreaking."

Catch up with the latest UTV Live on ITVX

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.