On Thursday, Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, told people to follow official warnings because the storms “are continuing” as authorities in Catalonia issued an alert regarding possible floods in several areas.

Juan Ramón Adsuara, the mayor of the Valencian town of Alfafar, criticised the lack of help provided by regional authorities, saying residents were “living with corpses in their homes”.

“They have forgotten us. We have not seen a fire truck in days; we have not seen the military emergency unit nor the Guardía Civil,” Mr Adsuara told the radio station À Punt. “We are getting organised but we are running out of everything.”

Carlos Mazón, Valencia’s regional president, said late on Thursday that he had asked Spain’s government to provide all available troops from the army, navy and air force “to reinforce the logistical effort and the distribution of aid to the population”.

And after further reports of looting, Valencia provincial prosecutor’s office said that it had requested preventive detention for those accused of robbery. “Robberies and thefts are taking place in the face of helplessness of the victims, with contempt for them and an attitude of impunity,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.