The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Valencia, Spain, has reached 217, officials announced Sunday, as the search for survivors -- and bodies -- continued in devastated cities and towns left caked in mud and strewn with debris.

Rescue efforts are continuing four days after flash flooding in Spain killed over 210 people, the country's worst natural disaster in generations. More than a year's worth of rain fell in just eight hours in some areas.

Thousands of rescuers pumped water from submerged buildings, churned through muddy streets and cleared debris on Monday as Spain braced for more deaths from its worst floods in decades.