Rescuers are still searching for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings Friday, three days after the massive flash floods that swept away everything in their path in the east of Spain. An unknown number of people remain missing.
In the worst-affected region of Valencia, 92 people were killed, according to Angel Victor Torres, Spain’s minister of territorial policy and democratic memory. Two others died in Castile-La-Mancha, and one person in Andalusia.
Several locations in southern and eastern Spain were hit with up to 12 inches of rain in just a few hours on Tuesday, in what marked the worst rainfall in Valencia in 28 years, according to state weather agency AEMET.
Several emergency services help in the rescue work, on 29 October, 2024 in Letur, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
Several emergency services help in the rescue work, on 29 October, 2024 in Letur, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Victor Fernandez/Europa Press/Getty Images
Emergency workers carry an injured person after flash floods hit the region on October 30, 2024 in Letur, Albacete province, Spain.
Emergency workers carry an injured person after flash floods hit the region on October 30, 2024 in Letur, Albacete province, Spain. Mateo Villalba Sanchez/Getty Images
Emiliano GarcÃa-Page, president of Castile-La-Mancha’s regional government, compared the deluge to a levee breaking. “It’s not a rain pour, it was like a dam burst,” GarcÃa-Page told Spain’s national broadcaster TVE. “People were calling [emergency numbers] crying, asking for help and it was almost impossible to reach them.”
The badly hit Valencia region was thrown into a state of chaos, with most highways becoming completely unusable on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Vehicles that had been left abandoned in traffic were picked up by the water and moved around.
Hurricane damage will increase in surprising new places in the coming decades. See where it’s trending higher
A courthouse was turned into a temporary morgue in the regional capital, also called Valencia, said local authorities, as the death toll is feared to climb.
At least 40 people, six of whom were in a retirement home, died in the town of Paiporta in Valencia, Spanish state news agency EFE reported, citing its mayor.
Videos posted by several rescue agencies on Wednesday show entire streets flooded, people stuck on rooftops and cars piled up and flipped over.
Around 1,200 people are thought to still be trapped in different parts of a highway in Valencia, and 5,000 vehicles are blocked as a result of the surging flood waters, EFE reported, citing Spain’s Guardia Civil.
Trains have been suspended in the Valencia region, as have other major public services in other affected regions. Schools, museums, and public libraries in the Valencia region will be closed on Thursday, according to the local government.
In Malaga, in the Andalusia region, a 71-year-old British man died from hypothermia, according to the city’s mayor, Francisco de la Torre.
Survivors and family members of the missing spoke to TVE about the terrifying downpour. “It was agonizing. When we saw the water rising and reaching the first floor of the house we went to the roof,” one resident told TVE. “We stayed on the roof until 4 a.m. [11 p.m. ET Tuesday]. We didn’t have water, we were cold. Finally, the helicopter arrived.”
“Everything is destroyed, but at least we are here to tell [the story],” she added.
Petruta Sandu’s family was also caught off-guard by the sudden flooding. She last spoke to her parents late on Tuesday night when they had been trapped on the roof of their car as waters rose around them.
“Since the 10 p.m. last night, we don’t know anything about our parents,” she told TVE. “My brother-in-law walked almost 7 km [over 4 miles] through knee-deep water to find the helicopter and find the vehicle but they didn’t find anyone. We don’t know where our parents are.”
A woman walks along train tracks covered in debris after flash flooding hit the region on October 30, 2024 in Valencia, Spain.
A woman walks along train tracks covered in debris after flash flooding hit the region on October 30, 2024 in Valencia, Spain. David Ramos/Getty Images
In towns close to rivers such as Utiel or Paiporta, water spilled onto the streets, CNN en Español reported. Vans, cars and garbage cans were swept away by currents that, in some cases, reached the first floor of buildings.
AEMET reports that the “cold drop” that caused the flooding is the worst Valencia has experienced this century. The term “cold drop” refers to a pool of cooler air high in the atmosphere, which can separate from the jet stream, causing it to move slowly and often lead to high-impact rainfall events. The phenomenon is most common in autumn.
The sheer amount of rain that fell meant many were taken by surprise, with people finding themselves trapped in their basements or first floors and unable to get to safety.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday that his government would use all means necessary to help victims of the floods, as he asked people to remain vigilant. He is set to visit Valencia on Thursday.
Catastrophic flooding in Spain's Valencia region has left 51 people dead, according to provisional data reported by the Interior Ministry's Center for Integrated Operational Coordination.The storm, dropping a year's worth of rain in hours, causing rivers to quickly burst their banks and even spawning tornadoes.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles described the flooding as an “unprecedented phenomenon,” CNN en Español reported. Robles said that more than 1,000 members of the military had been deployed to assist in rescue efforts.
The Spanish government has decreed three days of official mourning for victims of the flooding, starting on Thursday.
A local resident from one of the affected towns, Antonio Carmona, described to CNN what happened when the floods hit. “When we looked by here, we saw everything going down. (The water) took cars, it took down half of the house of one of our neighbors.”
Carmona pointed to his torn clothing, saying he and others had been saving dogs caught up in the flooding.
A woman carries chairs caked in mud after torrential rains caused flooding in La Alcudia, in Spain's Valencia region.
One woman named Beatriz Garrote was driving home from work in the city of Torrent in Valencia on Tuesday evening when she found herself trapped on a stretch of the ring road by the rising water for several hours alongside other drivers, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.
“I went past the first exit, which was for Paiporta, but it was closed because they told us that the town was flooded there and we couldn’t exit,” she said, El Pais reported. She said her car then got stuck “and suddenly the two lanes closest to the exit started flooding.”
She described feeling “very scared” as water levels rose rapidly. “I didn’t know where it was coming from or what was happening. The water started to rise very quickly.
“After 10 minutes, it was halfway up the car’s wheel. One of the volunteers told us to turn the cars around but there was no possible exit.
Eva Defez, 50, gets hugged by a friend outside her home after spending the night stranded at her home with her family due to floods in Utiel, Spain, October 30, 2024.
The human-caused climate crisis is making extreme weather more frequent and more severe, scientists say.
As the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution, the most intense rain events are getting heavier and more frequent. Hotter oceans fuel stronger storms and a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which it wrings out in the form of torrential rainfall.
Rainfall warnings continue through Wednesday for portions of eastern and southern Spain, according to AEMET, with the threat of heavy rain expected to continue through the end of the week.Addressing the Spanish people, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez updates the death toll from 207 to 211.
"Over the last 48 hours, state security forces and the armed forces have inspected thousands of garages, homes, riverbeds and roads and have located and removed 211 fatalities," Spanish radio station Cadena SER reported Mr Sanchez as saying.
Authorities have rescued 4,800 people so far, he said .He announces another 5,000 soldiers will be deployed - 4,000 today and 1,000 tomorrow morning - on top of the at least 2,000 already on the ground.
A further 5,000 police officers will also be sent in to flood-hit zones.
"We are talking about the largest deployment of state security forces and bodies of the armed forces that has ever been made in our country in times of peace," Spanish radio Cadena SER cites the prime minister as saying.
A Spanish navy ship will also be deployed to accommodate helicopters, he says.
Shovels in hand, thousands of people have turned out in Valencia city this morning.
An estimated 10,000 people were waiting hours for buses to take them to the worst-hit zones.Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins reports from Spain...
King Charles has written a letter to King Felipe of Spain offering his condolences for the "tragic loss of so many lives".
"My wife and I were utterly heartbroken to learn of the destruction and devastation following the catastrophic flooding in southern and eastern Spain.
"So many in the United Kingdom have strong, personal ties to Spain, and our nations are bound by so much that we have in common."
He said the King and Queen's "deepest possible sympathy are with all those who have lost loved ones and livelihoods this terrible week".
Survivors of the devastating Spanish floods have told Sky News they feel lucky to be alive.
But they are angry they have not been given more support by the government, emergency services or the military.
They say they feel forgotten and have been left without power, food or water, despite living within a short drive of one of the biggest cities in Spain.
Instead, we have seen thousands of volunteers helping to clear up some of the towns that were devastated, while others have been left to rely on their own residents to deal with the extraordinary devastation.
"Tell the world that we have nothing," says one man as we talk in the town of Albal. There are growing calls for a nationwide protest against what is seen as the slow response of authorities.
But there are also mesmerising stories of survival. In Catarroja, we meet Arkait Iniguez, who returned from his high school in Valencia because of a warning of bad weather.
"At first I was in the water up to my knee," he says. He wanted to check on his grandmother, who lived nearby, but by the time he had reached her house, the water was rushing so fast it swept him away.
"The stream was so fast and the level rose. I grabbed the post of a traffic sign so I wouldn't get taken away. Some neighbours tried to help me - they threw me a rope, but it broke.
"I was there for 20 minutes. Something hit me - I think it was a car, but I can't be sure. And then the stream got less strong and I could jump on to a car."
