Spain's young flood helpers smash 'snowflake' stereotype

Young volunteers have spearheaded a humanitarian campaign for victims of Spain's deadliest floods in decades, smashing stereotypes of an apathetic and feeble "snowflake generation", interested in nothing other than themselves.

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"Hundreds, perhaps thousands have come; they have conducted themselves magnificently," said Noelia Saez, a 48-year-old from the devastated town of Catarroja.

The altruism also overjoyed 62-year-old Teresa Gisbert, a resident of the ruined town of Sedavi, where dozens of young volunteers rushed to assist as mud covered the streets and her home.

"They bring us food, they have helped us... they are angels," she said.

Their towns are in the eastern Valencia region, where almost all the destruction and the more than 200 deaths have been recorded since the floods struck a week ago.