The search for missing persons in the area of eastern Spain hit by severe flooding continued on Monday, almost a week after the disaster claimed more than 200 lives.

Attention is now focused on a shopping centre in Aldaia, a suburb of the provincial capital, Valencia.

Water is being pumped out of the underground car park, where it is feared more bodies may be discovered.

The authorities said people should not believe exaggerated reports of further deaths.

Aldaia Mayor Guillermo Luján said on the state broadcaster RTVE, “The emergency services have already searched around 20 vehicles but found no bodies.

“We estimate that there were fewer than 100 vehicles parked there at the time of the flooding.”

The official death toll currently stands at 217, of which 213 are in the province of Valencia alone.

Many people are still missing, but no official figure has been released.

Some media outlets have been reporting that many hundreds of people are missing, but there are no sources for these figures.

“We should not speculate,” said the Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, who added, “We have to proceed seriously.”

Meanwhile, the clean-up and rescue efforts are picking up speed.

On Monday, more than 7,500 military personnel were on the scene, in addition to around 10,000 police officers from the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil.

They were supported by the fire brigade, civil defence, and countless volunteers.

Some districts in Valencia received as much rain in a few hours last week as they would normally get in a whole year.

On Monday, Spain’s weather service Aemet issued further severe weather warnings for parts of Catalonia in the northeast and Extremadura in the west of the country.

(dpa/NAN)