Garages were a particular death trap.

“When it rains people normally go down to their garages to get their cars out in case their garage is flooded,” Ms Albalat said.

That appears to have been the case in the neighbourhood of La Torre, on the outskirts of Valencia, where the bodies of seven people were recovered from the garage of a residential building.

The A3 motorway connecting Valencia to Madrid was one of many roads where motorists were trapped as the water level rose, leaving them unsure whether it was safer to stay in the vehicle or not.

“There are almost certainly more people who have died because the water washed people away who had got out of their cars,” one survivor told the Telecinco TV channel. Another survivor said the water had been up to his chest.

An eye-witness described seeing one driver who had got out of his car who had strapped himself to a lamppost with his belt, to stop himself from being washed away. It is unknown whether he survived.

The mayor of Chiva, Amparo Fort, warned on Thursday that nearby there were still “hundreds of cars turned upside down and they will surely have people inside them”.

On Thursday morning, the Guardia Civil shared advice on how to escape from a car during a flood on social media, external. People caught in floods are advised to try and escape though their cars’ windows and windscreen.