Spain flood kills two, injures two babies

MADRID:

A flood and a landslide triggered by torrential rain killed two elderly women and injured two babies in rural northwestern Spain on Saturday, authorities said.

"The deaths of two women, approximately 60 and 80 years old respectively, have been confirmed," said the emergency services of the Castile and Leon region after the disaster in the small village of Manzanedo de Valdueza.

They added that two babies had been treated for bruises, while a third person reported missing, a man in his 80s, "has been found unharmed".

Firefighters, police, ambulances and the Civil Guard were rushed to the scene, which footage from a rescue helicopter showed surrounded by hilly, forested terrain.

Local media published images showing a grey mass of stones and mud that had washed through the village and flattened a car.

The mayor of the nearby town of Ponferrada, Marco Morala, told reporters that "fierce storms in the hills triggered a large flow of stones, mud and sludge", leading to the deaths.