In a matter of minutes, flash floods caused by heavy downpours in eastern Spain on Tuesday swept away everything in their path. With no time to react, people were trapped in vehicles, homes and businesses. Many died and thousands saw livelihoods shattered.

Three days later, authorities have recovered 205 bodies — 202 of them in the eastern Valencia region alone, two in Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia — and continue to search for an unknown number of missing people.