VALENCIA: Spanish rescuers scrambled on Wednesday to save people trapped by waves of muddy water during floods that have killed at least 72 people in the east of the country.

The body that coordinates emergency services in the Valencia region announced a new provisional death toll of 70 in a statement, adding that bodies were still being recovered and identified.

Two other people died in the neighboring region of Castilla-La Mancha, its leader, Emiliano Garcia-Page, told reporters.

The toll could rise as some people remain undetected.

The flood toll is Spain’s deadliest since August 1996, when 86 people died in the northeastern region of Aragon, near the Pyrenees mountains on the border with France.

Heavy rain and strong winds have lashed Spain since the start of the week after a storm formed over the Mediterranean, triggering flooding in eastern Valencia and southern Andalusia.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged citizens not to let their guard down as the emergency continues and pledged not to “abandon” victims of the disaster on a scale rarely seen in the European country.

Sanchez said the government’s “absolute priority” was to help the victims. “All of Spain is crying with all of you (…) We will not abandon you,” he said in a televised address.

The disaster could not be considered over and “we will deploy all necessary resources for as long as it takes to recover from this tragedy,” he added.

An unprecedented phenomenon

The European Union has already activated its Copernicus satellite system to help coordinate Spanish rescue teams, commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference in Brussels.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles told reporters that “more than a thousand soldiers” supported by helicopters were being deployed in the face of “an unprecedented phenomenon.”

Emergency services in the Valencia region rescued almost 200 people overnight who were now sheltering in fire stations, Basset added.

Rail and air transport were severely disrupted and the high-speed line between Valencia and Madrid remained closed.

Spain’s parliament observed a minute’s silence on Wednesday to honor the victims before a raucous question session to the government.