Flash floods in Spain leave at least 95 dead

Devastating flash floods in eastern Spain have claimed at least 95 lives, with many more missing. Torrential rains submerged homes, destroyed roads, and cut off towns, prompting a large-scale rescue operation. The Valencia region was hardest hit, but Andalusia also experienced unprecedented rainfall and damage.

31 Oct 2024, 00:41 · The Economic Times

Meteorologists have said the rainfall in Spain is most likely the result of a sudden "cold drop," known in Spanish as a "gota fría."

At least 95 people have died and others were missing after devastating flash floods hit eastern Spain, according to local authorities, in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in recent years.

The catastrophic floods, fueled by an unrelenting deluge that began Monday, washed away cars, inundated homes and knocked out power across eastern Spain. Rescuers waded through neck-high waters to reach some residents.

"It was the worst moment of my life," said Nuria Molio, 51, who was driving home from Valencia to a nearby village with her father, 84, when her car filled with water.

The civil protection had to extract her father from the car with a rope so he wouldn't be swept away by the thick muddy current. Like many others, members of the family were now sleeping in a shelter in Valencia, as bridges and roads to their hometowns were destroyed by the floods.

In the town of Chiva in the eastern Valencia region, practically a year's worth of rain fell over eight hours, Spain's meteorological agency said Wednesday, illustrating the ferocity of the storm. Other areas across the south and east saw more than a month's worth of rain in less than 24 hours.

The severity of the disaster became more apparent Wednesday as regional authorities confirmed that most of the people who had died were in the Valencia region, where the storm battered cities, villages and towns along the mountainous coastline. Others died in the neighboring province of Castile-La Mancha, where at least five other people were missing in the municipality of Albacete, local officials said. It was the deadliest flooding disaster in Spain since 1996, when floodwaters in the Pyrenees swept away a campground, killing more than 80 people.

More remain missing, but authorities in Valencia said they could not give an exact figure. A phone line was set up to report missing people, they added, and residents were urged not to travel in the area. The death toll, officials said, was expected to rise.

Flooding also swept the region of Andalusia in southern Spain, which includes the cities of Seville and Málaga. The region received four times the amount of rain typical for October in a single day, Spain's weather agency said.

More than 1,000 soldiers from an emergency response team were sent to respond to the disaster, officials said, sharing videos of some people being airlifted from flooded areas into helicopters or waiting on rooftops.

"It's been a disaster," said Enrique Platero, a resident of Utiel, near Valencia, to the Spanish broadcaster RTVE. He said there had been no warning about the storm's dangers. "It took us by surprise," he said, turning away during the interview as tears came to his eyes.

Widespread areas appeared almost entirely submerged, and dozens of cars piled up in the flooding's aftermath, according to footage released by the Civil Guard.

Some buildings were reduced to sodden rubble.

The damage to roads and bridges left rescuers struggling to reach some areas, officials said Wednesday. Some towns were still cut off by the storm, with local officials describing grim scenes as the death toll climbed. Fears were also rising for the condition of people missing.

"At the moment, we have a very negative outlook for those that remain missing, although of course we retain hope," said Emiliano García-Page, head of the Castile-La Mancha region, to reporters Wednesday.

"The town of Paiporta is cut off; nothing works," said Maribel Albalat, Paiporta's mayor, where dozens of people died, to the Actualidad Valencia, a local newspaper. "People are organizing themselves but there is no communication."

The overflowing ravines and strong winds also damaged infrastructure supplying telecommunications and power in the region. About 155,000 customers were left without power, according to Iberdrola, an energy provider in Valencia, adding that workers were encountering difficulties in restoring service.

"It has been something out of the ordinary," said Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel to RTVE, adding that helicopters and boats had been reaching stranded residents all afternoon. "The material damage is incalculable, but what worries us is the personal damage."

Highways leading to the region's capital, also named Valencia, were littered with debris and covered with mud, according to footage from local media, and the subway was flooded. Regional trains on Wednesday were halted, and schools were closed in several places.

The Spanish parliament on Wednesday held a minute of silence to mourn the victims. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez vowed in an address to help the flood-struck regions recover. "Together we are going to rebuild your streets, your squares, your bridges," he said from Madrid. "All Spain cries with you," he added.

The deluge is not yet over: More rain was expected Wednesday, with Spain's meteorological agency raising an emergency alert for the Valencia region to the highest level. A popular tourist destination, Valencia is also known for being a key agricultural producer, and grows citrus and other fruits and vegetables.

One union representing young farmers in the region, the Valencia branch of ASAJA, said that while it was too early to assess the floods' economic impact on agriculture and livestock, it predicted that thousands of hectares of citrus, persimmons, vegetables, vines and other crops would lose their harvest this season.

Some areas recorded "historic accumulations of water," the union said, and the force of the water in inland areas uprooted thousands of vines and other crops that had just gone through one of the driest years in history. Other farms nearer to the coast were also flooded, the union said.

Though storms are typical during the fall in Spain, local residents were shocked at the sheer amount of rain: more than 70 gallons per square yard in some villages. In the village of Chiva, more than 100 gallons per square yard of rain fell in eight hours, practically a year's worth, Spain's meteorological agency said.

The agency added that it expected some 40 gallons per square yard of rain before 6 p.m. local time Wednesday over parts of Valencia, Andalusia and Murcia. The storm was moving toward the north and northwest of Spain, with rain expected to continue until at least Thursday.

Flooding is a complex phenomenon and while linking climate change to a single flood event requires extensive scientific analysis, scientists have said that climate change is causing heavier rainfall in many storms. Warmer atmosphere holds, and releases, more water.

Meteorologists have said the rainfall in Spain is most likely the result of a sudden "cold drop," known in Spanish as a "gota fría." That happens when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, allowing the hotter, moist air at the surface to rise quickly and producing giant rain clouds. Then, the storm system pushes these moisture-rich clouds over land.

The Mediterranean is also getting hotter, which is making such rainfalls more violent and more frequent. In August, the sea hit its highest recorded temperature.

The record rainfall that led to devastating floods in Belgium and Germany in the summer of 2021 was made much more likely by global warming, scientists have determined.

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