At least 72 people have been killed in the deadliest flooding to hit Spain for three decades after torrential rain battered the eastern region of Valencia, sweeping away bridges and buildings, local authorities said on Wednesday.
Meteorologists said a year’s rain had fallen in eight hours in parts of Valencia on Tuesday, causing pile-ups on highways and submerging farmland in a region that produces two-thirds of the citrus fruit grown in Spain, a leading global exporter.
Residents in the worst-hit places described seeing people clambering onto the roofs of their cars as a churning tide of brown water gushed through the streets, uprooting trees and dragging away chunks of masonry from buildings.
“It’s a river that came through,” said Denis Hlavaty, who waited for rescue on a ledge in the petrol station where he works in the regional capital. “The doors were torn away and I
spent the night there, surrounded by water that was 2 metres (6.5-feet) deep.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised to rebuild infrastructure that had been destroyed and said in a televised address: “For those who at this moment are still looking for
their loved ones, the whole of Spain weeps with you.”
Footage shot by emergency services from a helicopter showed bridges that had collapsed and cars and trucks piled on top of each other on highways between flooded fields outside the city of Valencia.
Trains to the cities of Madrid and Barcelona were cancelled due to the flooding, and schools and other essential services were suspended in the worst-hit areas, officials said.
Power company i-DE, owned by Europe’s biggest utility, Iberdrola, said about 150,000 clients in Valencia had no electricity.
Emergency services urged citizens to avoid all road travel and to follow further official advice. Military units specialised in rescue operations were deployed in some places to help emergency workers.
Some parts of Valencia such as the towns of Turis, Chiva or Bunol recorded more than 400 mm (15 inches) of rainfall, leading the state weather agency AEMET to declare a red alert on Tuesday. It was lowered to amber on Wednesday as the rain eased.
There was also flooding in other parts of the country, including the southern region of Andalusia, and forecasters warned of more bad weather ahead as the storm moved in a
northeasterly direction.
The regional weather service in Catalonia issued a red alert for the area around Barcelona, warning of high winds and hail while the AEMET state agency placed the city of Jerez in Andalusia on red alert.
“(The floodwaters) took away lots of dogs, lots of horses, they took away everything,” said Antonio Carmona, a construction worker and resident of Alora in the southern region.
With Reuters inputs
