Spain will deploy 10,000 more soldiers and police officers to the eastern Valencia region devastated by historic floods that have killed 211 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.

Hopes of finding survivors more than three days after torrents of muddy water submerged towns and infrastructure have been dashed in the European country’s deadliest disaster in decades.

Almost all the deaths were recorded in the eastern region of Valencia, where thousands of security and emergency workers were frantically clearing debris and mud in search of bodies.

Sanchez said in a televised address that the disaster was the second deadliest flood in Europe this century and announced a huge increase in security forces for rescue work.

The government accepted the Valencia region’s leader’s request for 5,000 more troops and informed him of a new deployment of 5,000 police officers and civil guards, Sanchez said.

Spain was conducting its largest peacetime deployment of military and security forces personnel, he added.

More deaths are expected

Restoring order and distributing aid to devastated towns and villages – some of which have been cut off for days without food, water and electricity – is a priority.

Authorities have been criticized for the adequacy of flood warning systems, and some affected residents have complained that the response to the disaster is too slow.

“I am aware that the response is not enough, there are serious problems and shortages… cities buried in mud, desperate people looking for their relatives,” Sanchez said.

Susana Camarero, deputy head of the Valencia region, told reporters on Saturday that essential supplies had been delivered “from day one” to all accessible settlements.

But it was “logical” for affected residents to ask for more, she added.

Authorities in the Valencia region restricted access to roads for two days to allow emergency services to carry out search, rescue and logistics operations more effectively.

Officials said dozens of people remain unaccounted for.

But with telephone and transport networks badly damaged, putting a precise figure is difficult.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told radio station Cadena Ser on Friday that it was “reasonable” to believe more deaths would occur.

It is also hoped that the estimated number of missing people will decrease once telephone and internet services are back up and running.

“Overwhelmed” by solidarity

Thousands of ordinary citizens pushing shopping carts and wearing cleaning gear took to the streets on Friday to help with the cleanup effort.

Camarero said some municipalities were “overwhelmed by the amount of solidarity and food” they received.

The drive continued on Saturday as about 1,000 people set off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia for nearby flood-ravaged towns, an AFP journalist saw.

Authorities urged them to stay at home to avoid road congestion that would hamper the work of emergency services.

The storm that triggered Tuesday’s flooding formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common at this time of year.

But scientists warn that human-driven climate change is increasing the ferocity, duration and frequency of such extreme weather events.