This addon enables you to "flood-select" or deselect entire areas of
selected/deselected elements.
Documentation
First go to User Preferences->Addons and enable the FloodSel addon in the
Mesh category.
Go to EditMode, select one or more areas of elements. Invoke addon
(button in Mesh Tools panel)
Click area with leftmouse to select/deselect and rightmouse to
cancel. Choose "Multiple" tickbox
if you want to do several operations in succession, and ENTER to keep
changes. Click tickbox
"Preselection" to preview selection/deselection when hovering mouse over
areas.
View can be transformed during operation.
If you wish to hotkey FloodSel:
In the Input section of User Preferences at the bottom of the 3D View >
Mesh section click 'Add New' button.
In the Operator Identifier box put 'mesh.floodsel'.
Assign a hotkey.
Save as Default (Optional).