Article content

In eastern Spain, at least 64 people died after flash floods swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers and disrupted railway lines and highways; This was the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent history.

Heavy rains that started on Tuesday and continued throughout the night caused floods in large parts of southern and eastern Spain, stretching from Malaga to Valencia. As the muddy flood dragged vehicles into the streets at high speeds, pieces of wood were swirling in the water along with household items. Police and rescue teams used helicopters to get people out of their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers trapped on the roofs of cars.

Article content

Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed 62 deaths on Wednesday. Two more deaths were also reported in the neighboring Castile La Mancha region.

Search teams attempted to find survivors and victims; countless numbers were still missing. The Spanish government announced that it will declare three days of mourning for those who lost their lives in the devastating floods, starting from Thursday.

“For those searching for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,” Sanchez said in a televised speech. “Our priority is to help you. We are mobilizing all necessary resources to recover from this tragedy.”

Authorities reported scores of people missing late Tuesday, but the shocking announcement came the next morning that dozens had been found dead.

“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldon, mayor of the Valencian town of Utiel, told national broadcaster RTVE. He said six residents of his town were dead and many more were missing.

“We were trapped like rats. Cars and garbage containers were flowing through the streets. The water was rising up to 3 meters (9.8 feet),” he said.

Article content

Article content

More than 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units were deployed to devastated areas. Rescue services were also heading east from other parts of Spain. Spain’s central government established a crisis committee to help coordinate rescue efforts.

The elderly were the most vulnerable. RTVE showed video from a nursing home where several elderly people were sitting in chairs and wheelchairs, with water rising above their knees as staff scrambled to ensure their safety. Elsewhere, an elderly couple was rescued from the upper floor of their home by a military unit using a bulldozer and escorted by three soldiers with a giant shovel.

Television reports showed videos taken by panicked residents documenting water inundating the ground floors of apartment buildings, streams bursting their banks and bridges collapsing. People could be heard panting as they pointed to what they feared were corpses dangling in the swift brown flood.

Spain’s national weather service described the rainfall as “extraordinary” in the Chiva region of Valencia, which accumulated 491 liters per square meter (12 gallons per square meter) in eight hours.

Article content

Spain has also experienced similar autumn storms in recent years. But nothing compares to the devastation of the last two days, reminiscent of the 2021 floods in Germany and Belgium that killed 230 people.

The death toll is likely to rise as victims in other regions have not yet been reported and searches continue in areas with difficult access.

In the village of Letur in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region, Mayor Sergio Marin Sanchez said six people were missing.

Spain is still recovering from a severe drought and has continued to record record high temperatures in recent years. Scientists say the increase in extreme weather events is likely linked to climate change.

The prolonged drought also made it difficult for the soil to absorb large amounts of water.

The storms unleashed a rarely seen tornado as well as a strange hailstorm that blew holes in car windows and greenhouses.

Transportation was also affected. A high-speed train with nearly 300 people on board derailed near Malaga, although railway officials said no one was injured. High-speed train service and suburban lines between the city of Valencia and Madrid were also disrupted.

Article content

Valencia regional president Carlos Mazon urged people to stay at home, with road travel already difficult due to fallen trees and wrecked vehicles. Mazon said that rescue efforts were disrupted because the power lines were cut, leaving the areas without electricity, and phone lines were clogged with calls. He said the regional emergency service attended about 30,000 calls.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels that the EU would help by using the Copernicus geo-tracking satellite system “to help coordinate rescue teams.”

The European Union leader said the bloc was ready to activate a civil protection mechanism offering joint assistance from the other 26 member states if Spain requests assistance.

“Europe is ready to help,” von der Leyen said.

As the water fell, thick layers of mud mixed with garbage made the streets unrecognizable.

“The neighborhood was destroyed, all the cars were on top of each other, literally torn to shreds,” Christian Viena, a bar owner in Valencia’s Barrio de la Torre village, said by phone. “Everything is a complete wreck, everything is ready to be thrown away. “The mud is almost 30 centimeters (11 inches) deep.”

Article content

Outside Viena’s bar, people were coming out to see what they could salvage. Cars were piled up on top of each other and the streets were filled with waterlogged branches.

Relatives of the missing filled social media, local television and radio channels with calls to find their loved ones.

Leonardo Enrique told RTVE that his family searched for hours for his son, Leonardo Enrique Rivera, 40, who was driving the delivery van when it started raining. Enrique said his son sent him a message saying his van was submerged and that another vehicle had hit him while they were near Ribarroja, one of the worst-hit industrial towns.

Located on the Mediterranean coast south of Barcelona, ​​Valencia is a tourist destination known for its beaches, citrus groves and as the home of Spain’s paella pilaf.

Like some other parts of Spain, Valencia has gorges and small riverbeds that are completely dry most of the year but quickly fill with water when it rains. Many of them pass through residential areas.

Rain tapered off in Valencia late Wednesday morning as the storm moved north, prompting officials in the Barcelona region to issue weather warnings.

— Medrano reported from Madrid. Associated Press journalist Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusives, long reads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalposta.com and sign up for our daily newsletter: Published, Here.

Article content