Search for missing in Madeira flash floods
The dogs scoured heaps of boulders, broken trees and other debris blocking streets. Rescue teams dug cars out of head-high mounds of sludge to see if there was anyone inside.
Crews pumped rainwater and mud out of a shopping mall’s underground parking lot in the capital, Funchal, where officials fear more bodies may be found.
Officials said most victims appeared to have either drowned or were crushed.
Although four people were officially unaccounted for Monday, officials said there could be more victims because blocked roads and downed phone lines made it difficult to get a complete picture of the damage.
Pedro Ramos, a spokesman for Funchal’s main hospital, said his services had treated 151 injured people.
Officials said a month’s worth of rain fell in about eight hours, unleashing a torrent of water and mud that swept away people, houses and vehicles.
Rescue teams in more than 400 vehicles, including bulldozers, worked through the night to clear tons of mud, boulders and snapped trees, authorities said.
“The recovery is going to be a hard work,” resident Miguel Eduardo told Associated Press Television News. “It will take us a few months to recover.”
Victims in white body bags were taken to Funchal’s international airport, where a makeshift morgue was set up. Among the dead was a firefighter who was swept away as he tried to save a woman, his colleagues said.
The British Foreign office said one British national was killed and a few others had been hospitalised.
The Portuguese government was holding a cabinet meeting yesterday and was expected to announce three days of mourning for the victims. It may also grant aid to rebuild Madeira’s destroyed roads and bridges.
A Portuguese Navy frigate bringing troops to help with the cleanup was to dock in Funchal last night.
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