The mangled car in which Jorge Tarazona鈥檚 3-year-old niece and sister-in-law perished in now hangs halfway off the ragged edge of road.

His brother managed to survive, clinging to a fence. He and his family had been caught in traffic driving home to Paiporta on Valencia鈥檚 southern outskirts, Tarazona said. They had no chance to escape when the nearby drainage canal and swept away everything in its path.

鈥淭hey did not have time to do anything,鈥� Tarazona told The Associated Press, a week after the Oct. 29 flash floods. 鈥淢y brother was dragged away and ended up clinging to a fence.鈥� His sister-in-law 鈥渃ould not get out and died with her little girl.鈥�

Tarazona had ridden a bike back to the site and taped a note on the car asking for whoever eventually removed the wreck off the side of the highway, to call him.

鈥淚t all happened so fast,鈥� he said, tears coming to his eyes. 鈥淚n half an hour the current had carried away the car. There was no time, no time. She managed to send me the location of their car hoping for a rescue.

鈥淭he next day she was found dead inside,鈥� he said.

It鈥檚 unclear if the two are included in the official toll of the 217 confirmed dead as fatalities tick up, eight days after the deadliest floods in Spain this century.

Paiporta has been labeled by Spanish media as the that has also left while officials say the real figure could be higher.

Over 60 people perished in Paiporta when a wave of water rushed down the Poyo canal that cuts through its center. Frustration over the survivors鈥� sense of abandonment exploded in Paiporta on Sunday when a crowd greeted Spain鈥檚 royals and officials with .

Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez was rushed away and the royal couple had to eventually cancel the visit after speaking to several distraught neighbors amid a chaotic scene.

The mayor of Paiporta, a middle-class community of 30,000, on Tuesday pleaded for a 鈥渉igher authority鈥� to step in and take control of her municipality because the floods had made it impossible to go on. Mayor Maribel Albalat said all the municipal buildings, from town hall to the local police, had been severely damaged and that many of the local civil servants 鈥渁re in a state of shock.鈥�

鈥淧aiporta is a strong village, but this overwhelms out capacities as a local administration,鈥� she said.

The air-throbbing 鈥渢hup, thup, thup鈥� of the huge, two-propeller Chinook helicopters that have flown overhead with the arrival of the army has added to the post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

The destruction, however, of municipalities, above all on the southern flank of Valencia city on the Mediterranean coast. Seventy-eight localities had at least one person die from the floods. Police have expanded their search to the nearby marshes and coastline, where the waters carried some away.

The residents, businesses and town councils of the affected localities can apply for financial help from a 10.6-billion-euro relief package from Spain鈥檚 government. The regional Valencia government, which is being slammed for , has asked the central government in Madrid for 31 billion euros to ensure the recovery.

Over a week later, the cleanup goes on to get rid of tons of mud and debris that clog street after street, filling thousands of ground floors, destroying living rooms and kitchens. Neighborhoods were left without shops and supermarkets after all their products were ruined. Many houses still don麓t have drinking water.

An were the first helpers on the ground, shoveling and sweeping away the sticky brown mire covering everything, and helping to start removing pile after pile of debris that made access to cars impossible in many areas.

Authorities eventually mobilized 15,000 soldiers and police reinforcements to help firefighters search for bodies and start extracting thousands of wrecked cars strewn over streets and sunk in canal beds.

At every corner, cars are piled on top of one another or smashed into buildings, light poles, trees and bridge overpasses.

鈥淭here is still so much to do,鈥� said volunteer Juanma Baztan L贸pez, who is helping churn through the muck in Catarroja, which borders on Paiporta, in his four-wheel drive. He has helped transport doctors to people in need, deliver essential products, and tow away wrecked cars.

鈥淚t will take a year to get this back to normal,鈥� he said.

___

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Paolo Santalucia And Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press