Madeira floods: death toll rises to 40
Rescuers head for cut-off villages as one Briton confirmed dead following tragedy on holiday island
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 February 2010 20.23 GMT
- Article history
More than 120 people have been injured in Madeira's worst tragedy for a century. Photograph: Reuters
The death toll in flash floods on the Portuguese holiday island of Madeira rose to at least 42 as search teams began digging for survivors and environmentalists blamed greed and overbuilding for the scale of the tragedy.
Army and police rescue teams from mainland Portugal started sifting through mud and debris left behind by flooding and mudslides after a torrential storm ravaged the island on Saturday.
Authorities warned that the death toll in the island's worst tragedy for a century would increase as rescuers travelled to towns and villages cut off by floods and rockfalls. Several villages remained inaccessible yesterday and telephone services were still cut in some areas.
More than 120 people, including visiting tourists, were injured and an unknown number of others were missing, possibly swept away or smothered. The Foreign Office tonight confirmed that a Briton had died following the flooding.
