Flash floods in Spain turned village streets into rivers, ruined homes, disrupted transportation and killed at least 95 people in the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory.
Rainstorms that started Tuesday and continued Wednesday caused flooding across southern and eastern Spain, stretching from Malaga to Valencia. Muddy torrents tumbled vehicles down streets at high speeds while debris and household items swirled in the water. Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers stranded atop cars.
Flash floods in Spain turned village streets into rivers, ruined homes, disrupted transportation and killed at least 95 people in the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory.
Rainstorms that started Tuesday and continued Wednesday caused flooding across southern and eastern Spain, stretching from Malaga to Valencia. Muddy torrents tumbled vehicles down streets at high speeds while debris and household items swirled in the water. Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers stranded atop cars.
Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed a death toll of 92 people on Wednesday. Another two casualties were reported in the neighbouring Castilla La Mancha region, while southern Andalusia reported one death.
바카라Yesterday was the worst day of my life,바카라 Ricardo Gabaldon, the mayor of Utiel, a town in Valencia, told national broadcaster RTVE on Wednesday. He said six residents perished and more are missing.
바카라We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 metres (9.8 feet),바카라 he said.
Spain's government declared three days of mourning starting Thursday.
바카라For those who are looking for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,바카라 Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised address.
Rescue personnel and more than 1,100 soldiers from Spain's emergency response units were deployed to affected areas. Spain's central government set up a crisis committee to coordinate rescue efforts.
Javier Berenguer, 63, escaped his bakery in Utiel when crushing water threatened to overwhelm him. He said it rose to 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) inside his business, and he fears his livelihood has been destroyed.
바카라I had to get out of a window as best I could because the water was already coming up to my shoulders. I took refuge on the first floor with the neighbours and I stayed there all night,바카라 Berenguer told The Associated Press. 바카라It has taken everything. I have to throw everything out of the bakery, the freezers, ovens, everything."
María Carmen Martinez, another Utiel resident, witnessed a harrowing rescue.
바카라It was horrible, horrible. There was a man there clinging to a fence who was falling and calling people for help,바카라 she said. 바카라They couldn't help him until the helicopters came and took him away.바카라
One Valencia town, Paiporta, suffered exceptional loss. Mayor Maribel Albalat told RTVE that over 30 people died in the town of some 25,000 people. Those included six residents of a senior residence. News media broadcast footage of seniors in chairs and wheelchairs at a Paiporta nursing home, some crying out in apparent terror as the water rose over their knees.
바카라We don't know what happened, but in 10 minutes the village was overflowing with water,바카라 Albalat said.
Spain's national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in Valencia than it had in the preceding 20 months, calling the deluge 바카라extraordinary.바카라
Located south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast, Valencia is a tourist destination known for its beaches, citrus orchards, and as the origin of the rice dish, paella. The region has gorges and small riverbeds that spend much of the year completely dry but quickly fill with water when it rains. Many of them pass through populated areas.
As the floods receded, thick layers of mud mixed with refuse made some streets unrecognizable.
바카라The neighbourhood is destroyed, all the cars are on top of each other, it's literally smashed up,바카라 Christian Viena, a bar owner in the Valencian village of Barrio de la Torre, said by phone. 바카라Everything is a total wreck, everything is ready to be thrown away. The mud is almost 30 centimeters deep.바카라
Outside Viena's bar, people were venturing out to see what they could salvage. Cars were piled up and the streets were filled with clumps of water-logged branches.
Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years. Nothing, however, compared to the devastation over the last two days, which recalls floods in Germany and Belgium in 2021 in which 230 people were killed.
The death toll will likely rise with other regions yet to report victims and search efforts continuing in hard-to-reach places.
바카라We are facing a very difficult situation,바카라 minister of territory policies Angel Víctor Torres said. 바카라The fact that we can't give a number of the missing persons indicates the magnitude of the tragedy.바카라
Spain is still recovering from a severe drought and has registered record high temperatures in recent years. Scientists say increased episodes of extreme weather are likely linked to climate change. The prolonged drought makes it more difficult for the land to absorb high volumes of water.
The storms also unleashed a rare tornado and a freak hailstorm that punched holes in car windows and greenhouses.
Transport was also affected. A high-speed train with nearly 300 people on board derailed near Malaga, although rail authorities said no one was hurt. High-speed train service between Valencia city and Madrid was interrupted, and the transport ministry said it could take up to four days to restore highspeed service to the capital due to the damage done to the line.
Bus and commuter rail lines were likewise interrupted. Many flights were cancelled Tuesday night, stranding some 1,500 people overnight at Valencia's airport. Flights resumed Wednesday.
Soccer games involving Valencia and Levante were canceled and players from Barcelona and Madrid held a moment of silence for victims of the flood before training Wednesday.
Valencian regional President Carlos Mazon urged people to stay at home, saying travel by road was difficult due to fallen trees and wrecked vehicles. Rescue efforts were hampered by downed power lines and power outages, and the regional emergency service responded to some 30,000 calls, Mazon said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels that the EU will 바카라help coordinate the rescue teams바카라 using its Copernicus geo-monitoring satellite system.
Some residents appealed for news of their missing loved ones via social media, television and radio broadcasts.
Leonardo Enrique told RTVE that his family searched for hours for his 40-year-old son, Leonardo Enrique Rivera, who was driving a delivery van when the rain began.
His son sent a message saying his van was flooding and that he had been hit by another vehicle near Ribarroja, an industrial town that is among the worst affected, Enrique said.