Madeira rescue crews search for 4 missing after Portugese island’s fatal floods

4 still missing after Madeira flooding killed 42

FUNCHAL, Madeira Islands — Emergency crews in Madeira continued their search Monday for at least four people still missing after mud and rockslides killed 42 people on the Portuguese island.

More than 400 vehicles, including bulldozers and trucks, worked all night Sunday in an effort to clear debris, authorities said.

Several roads remained blocked by boulders, mud and trees that were dislodged by flash floods. The torrent of muddy water swept away people, houses and vehicles on the steep-sloped island. More than 120 people were injured.

Light showers were forecast for the Atlantic Ocean island Monday and Tuesday.

Only four people were officially unaccounted for on Monday, but officials said there could be further victims.

Parts of downtown Funchal, Madeira’s capital, were cordoned off as crews dug into a shopping mall’s mud-filled underground parking lot where officials feared more bodies may be found.

The head of the regional government, Alberto Joao Jardim, told people to stay at home Monday and leave their homes only if it was absolutely necessary. Madeira’s schools were expected to stay closed, canceling classes for some 30,000 students.

Locals say Saturday’s storm was the worst in living memory. Officials say a month’s rain fell on the island in eight hours.

The Portuguese government was to hold a special Cabinet meeting Monday and was expected to announce three days of national mourning for the victims.

It may also grant financial aid to rebuild Madeira’s many destroyed roads and bridges. The regional government says it has no estimate yet of its financial needs.

Portugal Telecom said 85 percent of the island’s cellular and fixed-line capacity was restored by late Sunday.

The victims, in white body bags, were taken to Funchal’s international airport where officials have set up a makeshift morgue.

Among the dead was a local firefighter who was swept away in a muddy torrent as he tried to save a woman, his colleagues said.

The British Foreign office confirmed late Sunday that a British national had died, but declined to give further details.

The Foreign Office also said a small number of Britons had been hospitalized on Madeira. The island is popular with British tourists because of its usually mild climate.

Madeira is the main island, with a population of around 250,000, of a Portuguese archipelago of the same name in the Atlantic Ocean just over 300 miles (480 kilometers) off the west coast of Africa.

The flash floods were so powerful they carved paths down mountains and ripped through the city, churning under some bridges and tearing others down.

“We heard a very loud noise, like rolling thunder, the ground shook and then we realized it was water coming down,” said Briton Simon Burgbage.

Residents caught in the torrent clung to railings to avoid being swept away. Cars were tossed about by the force of the water; the battered shells of overturned vehicles littered the streets.

“It was horrible, there were cars on rooftops, there were vans and trucks that had fallen and been totally crushed,” said German tourist Andreas Hoisser.

A medical team, divers and rescue experts from mainland Portugal, 550 miles (900 kilometers) northeast of Madeira, arrived on the island Sunday aboard a military transport plane.

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.