Spain flooding: British woman's split-second decision saves her as she's swept away

A Brit somehow escaped the deadly Valencia by climbing out of her car window moments before it was swept away.

Karen Loftus said her and her husband are lucky to be alive after they made the potentially life-saving decision to abandon their car. The couple, from Dorset, were travelling south on the AP-7 motorway to their holiday home in Alicante on Tuesday evening when .

Mrs Loftus, 62, said the next thing they saw was a bridge in front of them being swept away. The Brit, who is the chief executive of UK-based charity Community Action Network, told that with ten minutes of being stationary, "the water had risen up and started to come into the car".

The pressure meant they were unable to open the vehicle's doors so they decided to escape through the windows. Mrs Loftus added: "Just after we got out of the car, another car floated on top of our car."

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The couple managed to seek refuge inside a lorry but "lost everything" in the disaster including their car and some belongings dating back 20 years. More than 90 people have so far been confirmed to have died in the floods with the death toll expected to rise. Entire towns have been plunged under water, cars swept away and people stranded in their homes in near apocalyptic scenes.

A British man who was suffering from hypothermia was . The government has declared three days of mourning with the floods described as Spain's worst natural disaster in more than 50 years.

Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel, a town near Valencia, told national broadcaster RTVE: "Yesterday was the worst day of my life... We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 metres (9.8 feet)." He said people are missing.

Rescue personnel and more than 1,100 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units were deployed to affected areas. Spain’s central government set up a crisis committee to coordinate rescue efforts.

Javier Berenguer, 63, escaped his bakery in Utiel when crushing water threatened to overwhelm him. He said it rose to 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) inside his business, and he fears his livelihood has been destroyed.

"I had to get out of a window as best I could because the water was already coming up to my shoulders. I took refuge on the first floor with the neighbors and I stayed there all night. It has taken everything. I have to throw everything out of the bakery, the freezers, ovens, everything," Mr Berenguer said.