1 of 2 | Residents of Sedavi in the flood-ravaged province of Valencia inspect vehicles stacked on top of each other after torrent raged through the center of the suburb on Wednesday. The State Meteorological Agency issued red alerts for heavy rainfall in multiple regions of the province caused by a DANA or high-altitude isolated depression phenomenon. Photo by Biel Alino/EPA-EFE
Rescue efforts were continuing Thursday in eastern Spain after more than a year’s worth of rainfall fell in eight hours, triggering flash flooding that killed at least 158 people, destroyed roads, bridges and cut power and left some areas cut off from the outside world.
The number of confirmed deaths climbed from 95 to at least 158 Thursday, as authorities continued to make grizzly discoveries, including multiple people trapped inside vehicles and buried by mud and debris, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente told reporters. Advertisement
Authorities said 92 of the deaths were in Valencia Province on the eastern coast, two in neighboring Castilla La Mancha and one in Malaga Province on the southern coast but with many areas only accessible by helicopter and an unknown number of people unaccounted for there were fears the death toll could rise. Advertisement
The Spanish Army deployed more than 1,000 soldiers to assist in the rescue operation in the worst affected areas and three days of national mourning were declared amid fresh severe weather warning alerts in place for Valencia and Castellon and Catalonia to the north, where weather forecasters say the weather system is headed.
The British Foreign Office confirmed one of its citizens was among those killed in the flooding.
“Red Warning — Very heavy rain in the north of the province of Castellon: more than [7 inches] may accumulate. Extreme danger! Do not travel in the area unless absolutely necessary!” the State Meteorological Agency wrote in an alert on X Thursday morning.
“In nearby areas of Catalonia and the Valencian Community, the orange warning continues,” AEMET said.
However, there was anger that the initial warnings Tuesday night came too late with the civil protection service waiting as long as 12 hours after AEMET forecast the extreme rainfall to alert local officials and issue a “stay home” order to residents, the BBC reported.
Many people received their first warning when they were already stranded by the rising waters or worse.
More than 1,000 motorists were trapped on the A3 Madrid-Valencia motorway and the A7 motorway, which runs from Cadiz in the south, via Valencia, all the way to the French border. Advertisement
The Civil Guard, which said it had carried out 2,500 rescues from the two motorways, estimated 1,200 people remained trapped, with 5,000 wrecked or abandoned vehicles making the key national highways impassable.
Much of the blame for the failure to warn people in time centered on a 2023 decision by the Valencia regional government to shutter the Valencia Emergency Unit.
As many as 155,000 homes in Valencia were without power and the state-owned rail provider, Adif, reported a spate of incidents on its network, announcing in an update on X that it was suspending services on the key Valencia-Madrid high-speed line through Sunday.
The European Commission lowered the flags in front of its HQ in Brussels to half-mast saying in a social media post that the floods were a tragedy not just for Spain but for all of Europe and that “our thoughts are with the victims, their families and the rescue teams.”
Pledging a “European response,” emergency supplies and help to rebuild, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation satellite array had been diverted to assist in the search and rescue operation.
European Council President Charles Michel vowed that the European Union stood ready to provide support to Spanish authorities. Advertisement
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro expressed regret at the loss of life and solidarity with the Spanish, saying on X that his government would “make itself available for all necessary help,” while Germany offered flood relief assistance.
