Thread: Flash floods kill at least 95 people in Spain

At least 95 people have been killed and many others are missing after torrential rains caused flash flooding in southern and eastern Spain, local authorities said Wednesday.


The toll makes this Spain's worst natural disaster in almost 30 years and was confirmed by emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia, which said it was only an initial assessment.


Authorities had advised citizens to stay at home and avoid non-essential travel as heavy rains poured onto the worst-affected towns, sweeping away cars and disrupting public transport.

Videos shared on social media showed streets submerged in a sea of mud-colored water and dramatic rescues by emergency services, including a woman and her pets airlifted to safety from a home battered by fierce winds and floods.


“For those who at this moment are still looking for their loved ones, the whole of Spain weeps with you,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised address.


“To the villages and cities destroyed by this tragedy, I say the same: Together, we will rebuild your streets, your squares, your bridges,” he said.


Spain’s state weather agency AEMET declared a red alert in the city of Valencia, with some areas recording nearly 8 inches of rainfall that turned roads into rivers and disrupted highways and railway lines.


The last time Spain faced more deaths from flooding was in 1996, when 87 people died in a town near the Pyrenees mountains.


The town of Chiva, near Valencia, received more than 19 inches of rain — a year’s-worth — in just eight hours on Tuesday, according to the BBC.

The regional leader of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, told a news conference that some people remained stranded in inaccessible locations. Police and rescue services were using helicopters to lift people to safety from their homes and cars.


More than 1,000 soldiers from the country's emergency response units had been deployed to the devastated areas.

“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” said Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of the town of Utiel near Valencia. He told national broadcaster RTVE that several people were still missing in his town.


“We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to three meters,” Gabaldón said.


While the rain had subsided in Valencia by late Wednesday morning, Spain's national weather service forecast more storms through Thursday, according to the Associated Press.


Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years, but has seen nothing on the scale of this week’s destruction. It is still recovering from a severe drought earlier this year.


ASAJA, one of Spain’s largest farmer groups, said on Tuesday it expected significant damage to crops.


The death toll from these floods is the worst Europe has seen since 2021, when 185 people were killed in Germany after heavy rains.


Scientists say increased episodes of extreme weather are likely linked to climate change.

Spain flash floods: 95 people killed in Valencia

I've just viewed the videos, truelly horrendous!

Originally Posted by Joe 90

truelly horrendous!

Indeed.

Very sad, driven down that lovely Valenciana coast several times and inland to Casas Ibanez Albacete etc Utiel Requena had some nice Bobal wines, a full bodied local table wine similar to Tempranillo. I wonder if climate change at the root of this? RIP to the fallen.

Death toll in Spain's floods rises to 158, among Europe's worst storm disasters

Rescue teams discovered the bodies of eight people on Thursday (Oct 31) who had been trapped in a garage after devastating flash floods hit easter Spain, as the death toll in the Valencia region alone climbed to 158.


Local authorities have not disclosed how many people are still unaccounted for after Europe's deadliest floods in years and Defence Minister Margarita Robles said the final national death toll could be much greater.


Opposition politicians accused the central government in Madrid of acting too slowly to warn residents and send in rescue teams, prompting the Interior Ministry to say regional authorities were responsible for civil protection measures.

Valencia Mayor Maria Jose Catala told reporters that a local policeman was among the eight bodies found drowned in the garage in the city's suburb of La Torre. In the same neighbourhood, she added, a 45-year-old woman was also found dead in her home.

MORE Death toll in Spain's floods rises to 158, among Europe's worst storm disasters - CNA

Spain sends thousands more troops to flood zone

Spain is deploying 10,000 more troops and police officers to the eastern Valencia region devastated by historic floods that have killed 211 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.


Hopes of finding survivors ebbed four days after torrents of muddy water submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure in the European country's worst such disaster in decades.

Almost all the deaths have been recorded in the Valencia region, where thousands of security and emergency services personnel were frantically clearing debris and mud in the search for bodies.


Sanchez said in a televised address that the disaster was the second deadliest flood in Europe this century and announced a huge increase in the security forces dedicated to relief works.

The government had accepted the Valencia region leader's request for 5,000 more troops and informed him of a further deployment of 5,000 police officers and civil guards, Sanchez said.


Spain was carrying out its largest deployment of army and security force personnel in peacetime, he added.


- Flood aid distribution -


Restoring order and distributing aid to destroyed towns and villages -- some of which have been cut off from food, water and power for days -- is a priority.


Authorities have come under fire over the adequacy of warning systems before the floods, and some stricken residents have complained the response to the disaster is too slow.

"I am aware the response is not enough, there are problems and severe shortages... towns buried by mud, desperate people searching for their relatives... we have to improve," Sanchez said.


In the ground-zero towns of Alfafar and Sedavi, AFP reporters saw no soldiers while residents shovelled mud from their homes and firefighters pumped water from garages and tunnels.

"Thank you to the people who have come to help us, to all of them, because from the authorities, nothing," a furious Estrella Caceres, 66, told AFP in Sedavi.


Authorities in the Valencia region have restricted access to roads for two days to allow emergency services to carry out search, rescue and logistics operations more effectively.


A video circulating in Spanish media on Saturday showed the head of a civil protection team celebrating the rescue of a person who had been trapped in a car for three days.


With telephone and transport networks severely damaged, establishing a precise figure of missing people is difficult.


Sanchez said electricity had been restored to 94 percent of homes affected by power outages and that around half of the cut telephone lines had been repaired.


Some motorways have reopened but local and regional roads resembled a "Swiss cheese", meaning certain places would probably remain inaccessible by land for weeks, Transport Minister Oscar Puente told El Pais daily.

- King to visit -


Ordinary citizens carrying food, water and cleaning equipment continued their grassroots initiative to assist the recovery on Saturday.


Around 1,000 set off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia towards nearby towns laid waste by the floods, an AFP journalist saw.


Authorities have urged people to stay at home to avoid congestion on the roads that would hamper the work of emergency services.


Spanish media reported King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are due to visit the Valencia area on Sunday with Sanchez and regional leader Carlos Mazon.


Mazon called the floods "the worst moment in our history" on Saturday and laid out a series of proposals to help his region recover, ranging from infrastructure to economic support.


The storm that sparked the floods on Tuesday formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for this time of year.


But scientists warn climate change driven by human activity is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of such extreme weather events.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ne/ar-AA1tnGb9

Spamdreth will move onto this thread soon.

Crowd hurls mud, insults at Spanish royals, PM on visit to flood zone

VALENCIA, Spain: Furious locals pelted Spain's royals and premier on Sunday (Nov 5) with mud and cries of "murderers!", forcing officials to cut short their visit to the town worst hit by the floods which have killed more than 200.


The angry crowd in the town of Paiporta focused most of its wrath on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the head of the Valencia region, both of whom were whisked away by security.


King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were hit in the face and clothes with mud as they tried to calm the angry crowd, AFP journalists saw.

Broadcast on Spanish television, the extraordinary scenes underscored the depth of the anger in the country over the response to the nation's worst such disaster in decades, with the toll ever rising and hopes for finding survivors ebbing five days on.


The king and queen arrived just after midday at a crisis centre in Paiporta, ground zero for a disaster Sanchez called the second deadliest flood in Europe this century.

But more security guards were soon called to stand between the royals and the rest of the delegation and the angry crowd, whose ire seemed most directed at Sanchez and Valencia region head Carlos Mazon, AFP journalists saw.


"I understand the social anger and of course, I'm here to receive it. This is my political and moral obligation," Mazon later said in a post on X, while calling the king's conduct "exemplary".


The king and queen spent an hour trying to calm tempers before leaving themselves, while Sanchez and the politicians quickly left, not before the rear window of the premier's vehicle was broken.


Sanchez later said while he empathised with the "anguish and suffering" of the victims, he condemned "all forms of violence".

Nearly all the flood deaths have been in the Valencia region, where Spain's meteorological agency on Sunday issued a fresh warning for heavy downpours in the region.


Up to 90 litres per square metre of water could fall in places in the province of Castellon and the area surrounding the city of Valencia, the agency forecasted.


It also sounded the alarm for torrential rain that may cause flooding in the southern province of Almeria, advising residents not to travel unless strictly necessary.

"TOWNS BURIED BY MUD"


Since Tuesday's torrent of rain and mud swept away vehicles and devastated towns and infrastructure, thousands of emergency responders have frantically cleared debris in the search for bodies.


Authorities have come under fire over the warning systems before the floods, while stricken residents say the disaster response has been too slow.


Mazon himself has faced fierce criticism for waiting too long to issue a phone alert in Valencia.


"I am aware the response is not enough; there are problems and severe shortages ... towns buried by mud, desperate people searching for their relatives ... we have to improve," Sanchez said.

With an extra 10,000 troops, police and civil guards sent to the Valencia region, Spain was carrying out its largest deployment of military and security force personnel in peacetime, Sanchez said.


"Thank you to the people who have come to help us, to all of them, because from the authorities: nothing," a furious Estrella Caceres, 66, told AFP in the town of Sedavi.


In Chiva, Danna Daniella said she had been cleaning her restaurant for three days straight.


She said she was still in shock, haunted by memories of the people trapped by the raging floodwaters "asking for help and there was nothing we could do".


"It drives you crazy. You look for answers and you don't find them."

VOLUNTEERS IN DROVES


Transport Minister Oscar Puente told El Pais daily that certain places would probably remain inaccessible by land for weeks.


Ordinary citizens carrying food, water and cleaning equipment have continued to assist the recovery, although authorities have urged people to stay at home to avoid congestion.


On Sunday, the Valencian government limited the number of volunteers authorised to travel to the city's southern suburbs to 2,000 and restricted access to 12 localities.


Despite this thousands made their way to nearby communes on foot, carrying brooms and shovels to help those affected.

Pope Francis offered his prayers to those hit by the disaster "who are suffering so much these days".


The storm that sparked the floods on Tuesday formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for this time of year.


But scientists warn climate change driven by human activity is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of such extreme weather events.

Emergency services on Sunday updated the toll to 217 people confirmed killed.


It listed 213 dead in the Valencia region, one in Andalusia in the south and three in Castilla-La Mancha neighbouring Valencia, where the body of a woman in her 60s was discovered on Sunday.


Authorities have warned the toll could yet rise, as vehicles trapped in tunnels and underground car parks are cleared.

Crowd hurls mud, insults at Spanish royals, PM on visit to flood zone - CNA