At least 51 people have been killed after torrential rains caused flash flooding in southern and eastern Spain, local authorities said Wednesday.
In the town of Chiva near Valencia more than a year’s worth of rain fell in just eight hours and local officials say it is “impossible” to put a final figure on the number of people who have perished.
The toll makes this the worst natural disaster in the country’s recent history 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.
Flooding in Spain turned roads into rivers
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 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.
Spain’s King Felipe VI said he was “devastated” by the floods, and sent his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of the victims, in a post on X.
Radio and TV stations have reportedly been receiving hundreds of calls for help from people trapped in flooded areas or searching for loved ones, as emergency services struggle to reach some areas.
The priority is to find survivors
Rescuers are using drones to search for the missing in the badly affected municipality of Letur, local official Milagros Tolon told Spanish public television station TVE.
“The priority is to find these people,” she said.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.
Scientists say increased episodes of extreme weather are likely linked to climate change.
