Spain floods latest: Nation mourns as death toll crosses 150 after ‘catastrophic’ Valencia flooding
Death toll continues to rise after worst flash floods in three decades sweeps across Spanish region of Valencia
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Your support makes all the difference.At least 158 people have died with several missing due to the flash floods in Spain amid warnings of more extreme weather to come.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez urged residents to stay at home as he warned devastation is “not finished” and declared Valencia a “disaster zone”.
“Our priority is to find the victims and the missing so we can help end the suffering of their families,” Mr Sanchez said after meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia.
Spain began the official three-day national mourning on Thursday with flags at half-mast on official buildings. A moment of silence was held for the victims of the floods.
EU officials said the devastation in Spain should serve as a reminder of the self-harming effects of humans' destruction of nature.
Torrential rain – amounting to a year’s worth in just eight hours in some areas – engulfed cities such as Valencia and Malaga, with many finding themselves “trapped like rats” in their homes and cars, surrounded by rapidly rising floodwaters.
Many affected are preparing for more torrential rain, after Spain’s meteorological service issued a series of fresh warnings – including the most severe kind – on Thursday.
In pics: Valencia before and after the devastating floods
Violent weather event surprises regional government officials
The violent weather event has surprised regional government officials.
Spain's national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian town of Chiva than it had in the preceding 20 months.
A man wept as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his home in Catarroja, south of Valencia.
It looked as though a bomb had detonated inside, obliterating furniture and belongings, and stripping the paint off some walls.
In Paiporta, mayor Maribel Albalat said Thursday that at least 62 people had perished in the community of 25,000 next to Valencia city.
"(Paiporta) never has floods, we never have this kind of problem.
"And we found a lot of elderly people in the town centre," Ms Albalat told RTVE.
"There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages ... it was a real trap."'
Priority to find victims and missing people, says prime minister
Prime minister Pedro Sanchez yesterday said the government’s priority was to find “victims and the missing” so that “we can help end the sufferings of their families”.
At least 158 people have died in the floods that washed the eastern coast of Spain this week. Dozens are still missing with officials racing against time to find them.
“We are searching house by house,” Angel Martinez, one of 1,000 soldiers helping with rescue efforts told Spain’s national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.
Watch: Elderly woman and baby airlifted to safety amid Spanish flash flooding
Weather warning for today
Heavy rains continued as the Spanish weather agency issued more rain alerts for the southern coast of Valencia along with the Tarragona and Castellon regions.
Climate change is making extreme downpours in Spain heavier and more likely, scientists say
Human-caused climate change made Spain’s rainfall about 12% heavier and doubled the likelihood of a storm as intense as this week’s deluge of Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather.
Monstrous flash floods in Spain claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone. An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found. Crews searched for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings Thursday.
World Weather Attribution said climate change is the most likely explanation for extreme downpours in southern Spain, as a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to heavier downpours. The group noted its analysis is not a full, detailed attribution study, as the scientists did not use climate models to simulate the event in a world without human-caused warming.
Read more here:
Climate change is making extreme downpours in Spain heavier and more likely, scientists say
Human-caused climate change made Spain’s rainfall about 12% heavier and doubled the likelihood of a storm as intense as this week’s deluge of Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather
‘Everything looks apocalyptic’, says Spain flood victim
A terrified Valencia flood victim has revealed the scale of the devastation after heavy floodwaters engulfed her home in a matter of minutes.
Alba Paredes Borja is from the Spanish town of Alfafar, one of the areas hardest hit by the deadly storm, where local authorities are calling for urgent help in receiving food, water and medical supplies.
“I’m terrified. Everything looks apocalyptic,” she told The Independent. The floods – known as the “cold drop” or DANA phenomena – have claimed 158 lives, including at least three people in the municipality, leaving the city in ruins and cut off from all communication.
Salma Ouaguira reports.
‘Terrified’ Spain flood victim reveals scale of devastation: ‘It’s apocalyptic’
‘By the time they warned homes were flooding, mine was already underwater’
EU says 'catastrophic' Spain floods should serve as warning
Officials of the European Union cited the devastating flooding in Spain as a reminder of the self-harming effects of humans' destruction of nature.
European Commission envoy Florika Fink-Hooijer said the "catastrophe" in Spain's Valencia region highlighted the link between biodiversity loss and human-caused climate crisis.
"If we act on biodiversity, we at least can buffer some of the climate impacts," Ms Fink-Hooijer said at a press conference.
"At this COP we really have a chance to act," she added.
Floods demolish bridges and roads become floating graveyards
The floods have demolished bridges and left roads unrecognisable as they became floating graveyards.
Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in its path.
Luis Sanchez, a welder, said he saved several people who were trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of Valencia city.
The road rapidly became a floating graveyard strewn with hundreds of vehicles.
"I saw bodies floating past. I called out, but nothing," Mr Sanchez said.
"The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people.
"People were crying all over, they were trapped."
Watch: ‘Terrified’ Valencia flood victim shows scale of devastation
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