At least 95 people have died in eastern, central and southern Spain after torrential rains triggered the country’s deadliest floods in three decades, unleashing torrents of muddy water that surged through cities, towns and villages, trapping people in their homes, bringing down trees, and cutting off roads and railway lines.
As the search for dozens of missing people continued, motorists were urged to stay off the roads and away from swollen rivers amid warnings that the severe weather was not over and that the number of deaths could still rise.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Valencian government’s emergency coordination centre said the latest number of known deaths in the region was 92, while the central government delegation in the neighbouring Castilla-La Mancha region reported two deaths, including that of an 88-year-old woman in the city of Cuenca. Another death was reported in Andalucía’s Málaga province.
View image in fullscreen
The Valencian authorities urged people to keep clear of flooded or cut-off roads, saying the emergency services needed access and that more flood water could accumulate. More than 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units were deployed to the devastated areas. The central government also sent nine forensic experts to Valencia to help with the task of identifying bodies.
Images on Spanish TV showed turbulent, muddy water coursing through the town of Letur in the eastern province of Albacete on Tuesday, dragging cars through its streets.
“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel, a town in Valencia, told the national broadcaster RTVE. He said several people were missing in his town. “We were trapped like rats. Cars and rubbish containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 metres [10ft],” he said.
One elderly couple were rescued from the upper storey of their house by a military unit using a bulldozer, with three soldiers accompanying them in the huge shovel.
Television reports ran videos from members of the public showing waters flooding into the ground floors of flats, streams overflowing their banks and at least one bridge giving way.
A high-speed train with nearly 300 people onboard derailed near Málaga, although rail authorities said no one was hurt. The high-speed rail service between Valencia city and Madrid was interrupted, as were several commuter lines.
Tuesday’s floods were Spain’s worst since 1996, when 87 people died after torrential rain hit a campsite in the Pyrenees mountains. Europe’s most recent catastrophic floods came in July 2021, killing 243 people in Germany, Belgium, Romania, Italy and Austria.
The intense rain has been attributed to a phenomenon known as the gota fría, or “cold drop”, which occurs when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean. This creates atmospheric instability, causing warm, saturated air to rise rapidly, leading to heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Scientists say extreme weather events such as heatwaves and storms are becoming more intense because of the climate crisis. Warmer air can hold more water vapour.
In a televised statement on Wednesday morning, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called for unity, solidarity and vigilance. “We mustn’t let our guard down because the weather front is still wreaking havoc and we can’t say that this devastating episode is over,” he said.
skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Down to Earth
The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential
after newsletter promotion
“There are still weather warnings in Andalucía, Valencia, Aragón, Castilla y León, in Catalonia, in Extremadura, in Navarre, in La Rioja and in Ceuta. That’s why I’m asking people in those areas to take special care: to stay off the roads; to avoid travelling close to ravines, riverbanks and riverbeds, and to heed the advice of the emergency services and of the police. No one should be putting their life at risk.”
By 6pm local time, a red weather warning remained in place for the zone around Jerez de la Frontera in southern Andalucía, while orange warnings were still in force in the same region for Cádiz, Seville and the area close to the strait of Gibraltar.
The prime minister said Spain had experienced more than its fair share of natural and health emergencies in recent years, mentioning the Covid pandemic, Storm Filomena in January 2021, and the volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands that year. He said such adversity had often brought out the best in the country.
“We’re going to lend a hand and help those who can’t get into their homes or who are looking for relatives or friends or loved ones,” he said. “But most of all, right now, we’re going to stand with those who are suffering the loss of their loved ones.”
Three days of national mourning were declared and Spain’s congress held a minute’s silence on Wednesday to commemorate the dead.
King Felipe offered his support to the families of the dead and missing, saying he was heartbroken by the news of the flooding and deaths. “I’m sending strength, encouragement and all the necessary support to all those affected,” he said. “We recognise and appreciate all the local and regional authorities and the emergency and security services as they continue with the titanic task they have been carrying out since the very first moment.”
By 10am on Wednesday, the rains in Valencia had subsided. But Spain’s national weather service forecast more storms on Thursday, with the rains moving to the north-east of the Iberian peninsula.
∎