The body of a 56-year-old man has been found buried in mud a year after he was swept away in deadly flash floods in southeastern Spain, authorities said on Thursday.

Nearly 240 people died when floodwaters swamped homes, underground car parks and vehicles on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain's third-largest city, on October 29 last year.

The man was one of three people still unaccounted for and had already been officially declared dead, said a local court in Catarroja - one of the towns most affected by the floods.

He was discovered on Tuesday during earth-moving operations in the town of Manises, about 40 km (25 miles) downstream from Pedralba, where he went missing, it added.

Under Spanish procedure, judges are called in when bodies are discovered.

The same court, overseen by Judge Nuria Ruiz, is carrying out a judicial investigation into the delayed emergency response to the floods, which rank among Spain's worst natural catastrophes in modern history.

A text alert sent by Valencia's regional government warning people to take shelter arrived when buildings were already under water and many people were drowning.

On Thursday, the court summoned a local journalist who had lunch with Valencia's conservative regional leader, Carlos Mazon, on the day of the floods.

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