At least 72 people have died in eastern Spain after flash floods swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers and disrupted rail lines and highways in the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory.
Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed a death toll of 70 people on Wednesday. Another two casualties were reported in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region.
Rainstorms on Tuesday caused flooding in a wide swath of southern and eastern Spain, stretching from Malaga to Valencia. Mud-colored floods sent vehicles tumbling down streets at high speeds, while pieces of wood swirled in the water mixed with household items. Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers trapped on the roofs of cars.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said dozens of towns had been flooded and warned that the danger is not over.
“For those who are looking for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,” Sánchez said in a televised address. “Our priority is to help you. We are putting all the resources necessary so that we can recover from this tragedy.”
Authorities reported several missing people late Tuesday, but the following morning brought the shocking announcement of dozens found dead.
“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel, a town in Valencia, told national broadcaster RTVE. He said 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,” he said.
Over 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units were deployed to the devastated areas. Rescue services were also rushing eastwards from other parts of Spain. Spain’s central government set up a crisis committee to help coordinate rescue efforts.
One elderly couple was rescued from the upper story of their house by a military unit using a bulldozer, with three soldiers accompanying them in the huge shovel.
Television reports showed videos shot by panicked residents documenting how waters flooded the ground floors of apartments, streams bursting their banks and at least one bridge giving way.
Spain’s national weather service called the rainfall “extraordinary,” with 108 gallons per 32.3 square feet accumulated in eight hours in the Valencian locality of Chiva.
Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years. Nothing, however, compared to the devastation over the last two days, which recalls floods in Germany and Belgium in 2021 that saw 230 people killed.
The death toll will likely rise with other regions yet to report victims and search efforts continuing in areas with difficult access.
In the village of Letur in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region, Mayor Sergio Marín Sánchez said six people were missing.
Spain is still recovering from a severe drought and continues to register record high temperatures in recent years. Scientists say increased episodes of extreme weather are likely linked to climate change.
The prolonged drought has also made it more difficult for the land to absorb high volumes of water.
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