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At Least 95 People Die In Devastating Flash Floods In Spain
UTIEL, Spain — Flash floods in Spain turned village streets into rivers, destroyed homes, interrupted transportation, and killed at least 95 people in the greatest natural disaster to strike the European country in recent years.
Rainstorms that began on Tuesday and continued through Wednesday produced flooding throughout southern and eastern Spain, from Malaga to Valencia. Muddy floods hurled automobiles along streets at breakneck speeds, while rubbish and household goods swirled in the water. Police and rescue personnel utilized helicopters to transport people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers stranded atop their vehicles.
Emergency services in the eastern district of Valencia verified the death toll of 92 people.
“For those who are looking for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a televised speech.
At Least 95 People Die In Devastating Flash Floods In Spain
Rescue workers and around 1,100 troops from Spain’s emergency response teams were dispatched to the impacted districts. Spain’s central government formed a crisis committee to coordinate rescue efforts.
Javier Berenguer, 63, evacuated his bakery in Utiel as crushing water threatened to drown him. He claims it swelled to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) inside his shop, and he worries his livelihood is lost.
“I had to climb out of a window as quickly as possible because the water was already up to my shoulders. “I took refuge on the first floor with my neighbors and stayed there all night,” Berenguer told The Associated Press. “It’s taken everything. I have to empty the bakery, including the freezers and ovens.”
María Carmen Martínez, another Utiel resident, witnessed a dramatic rescue.
“It was just dreadful. “There was a man there clinging to a fence, falling and calling for help,” she explained. “They couldn’t help him until the helicopters came and took him away.”
Paiporta, a Valencian town, sustained an unprecedented loss. Mayor Maribel Albalat told RTVE that approximately 30 individuals died in the town of 25,000 residents. Six of them lived in senior housing. News outlets published footage of elderly in chairs and wheelchairs at a Paiporta nursing home, some of whom cried out in apparent panic as the water surged beyond their knees.
Spain’s national weather office said it rained more in Valencia in eight hours than in the previous twenty months, describing the deluge as “extraordinary.”
Valencia, located south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast, is a tourist attraction famed for its beaches, citrus plantations, and the origin of the rice dish paella. The region features gorges and little riverbeds that are dry for much of the year but quickly fill up with water when it rains. Many of them travel through populated areas.
As the floodwaters retreated, thick muck and trash rendered some streets unrecognizable.
“The neighborhood is destroyed, all the cars are on top of each other, it’s smashed up,” Christian Viena, a bar owner in the Valencian village of Barrio de la Torre, said over the phone. “Everything is a complete shambles, ready to be discarded. The muck is over 30 cm (11 inches) deep.
People were gathering outside Viena’s tavern to see what they might save. Cars were stacked high, and the streets were littered with clumps of waterlogged branches.
Spain has seen comparable fall storms in recent years. Nothing, however, compares to the damage of the previous two days, which is reminiscent of floods in Germany and Belgium in 2021 that killed 230 people.
The death toll is expected to grow as neighboring regions report deaths and search activities continue in remote areas.
At Least 95 People Die In Devastating Flash Floods In Spain
“We are facing a very difficult situation,” Minister of Territory Initiatives Ángel Víctor Torres remarked. “The fact that we can’t give a number of the missing persons indicates the magnitude of the tragedy.”
Spain is still recuperating from a severe drought and has recently experienced record-high temperatures. According to scientists, rising extreme weather episodes are most likely due to climate change. The extended drought makes it harder for the land to absorb large amounts of water.
The storms also produced a rare tornado and a freak hailstorm, which ripped holes in car windows and greenhouses.
Transportation was also disrupted. A high-speed train carrying over 300 people derailed in Malaga, but rail officials claimed no one was injured. High-speed train service between Valencia and Madrid has been disrupted, and the transport ministry has stated that owing to line damage, it may take up to four days to restore it to the capital. Bus and commuter rail routes were also disrupted. Many flights were canceled on Tuesday night, leaving approximately 1,500 people stranded at Valencia’s airport overnight. Flights resumed on Wednesday.
Soccer games between Valencia and Levante were canceled, and players from Barcelona and Madrid observed a moment of remembrance for flood victims before training on Wednesday.
Valencian regional President Carlos Mazón recommended residents stay at home, citing challenging traffic conditions owing to fallen trees and broken automobiles. Downed power lines and power outages impeded rescue attempts, and the regional emergency service reacted to approximately 30,000 calls, Mazón reported.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, told reporters in Brussels that the EU will “help coordinate the rescue teams” with its Copernicus geo-monitoring satellite system.
Some residents used social media, television, and radio to seek information about their lost loved ones.
Leonardo Enrique told RTVE that his family spent hours searching for his 40-year-old son, Leonardo Enrique Rivera, who was driving a delivery van when the rain started. Enrique claimed his son sent a message claiming his van was flooding and that he had been hit by another car near Ribarroja, an industrial town that is one of the worst impacted.
Orted one death.
“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldón, mayor of Utiel, a municipality in Valencia, told national radio RTVE Wednesday. He stated that six residents died and others were missing.
“We were trapped like rats. Cars and rubbish containers were moving down the streets. “The water was rising to 3 meters (9.8 feet),” he explained.
Spain’s government proclaimed three days of mourning beginning Thursday.
SOURCE | AP
