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Spain searches for bodies after century flood that kills 95 people

Spain searches for bodies after century flood that kills 95 people

Survivors of the worst natural disaster to hit Spain this century woke up to devastating scenes on Thursday after villages were swept away by monstrous flash floods that claimed at least 95 lives. The death toll is expected to rise as search efforts continue, with officials removing bodies from vehicles and an unknown number of people still missing.

“Unfortunately, there are dead people in some vehicles,” Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said, referring to hundreds of cars and trucks stranded on roads brown with mud.

The aftermath of the floods was eerily similar to the damage caused by a strong hurricane or tsunami.

Rescuers rushed to find survivors and victims of a once-in-a-generation flood on October 31, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
Wreckage of cars remains underwater on October 31, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

Cars piled on top of each other like broken toys, uprooted trees, fallen power lines and household items, all stuck in a layer of mud, covered the streets of Barrio de la Torre, a Valencia suburb, just one of dozens of damaged places in the harsh region. affected region of Valencia, where 92 people died between late Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

Walls of rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that entered the ground floors of houses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in their path.

“The neighborhood is destroyed, all the cars are stacked on top of each other, it is literally destroyed,” said Christian Viena, owner of a bar in Barrio de la Torre.

Residents try to clean their homes as the street is covered in mud on October 31, 2024, after flash floods hit the town of Alfafar. AFP via Getty Images
Rescuers search for missing people among the rubble brought by the floods in Letur, Albacete province, Spain on October 30, 2024 MANU/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Regional authorities said late Wednesday that it appeared there was no one left stranded on rooftops or in cars in need of rescue after helicopters rescued about 70 people. But ground crews and civilians continued to inspect vehicles and homes damaged by the onslaught of water.

More than a thousand soldiers from Spanish emergency rescue units joined regional and local aid workers in the search for bodies and survivors. The defense minister said soldiers alone had recovered 22 bodies and rescued 110 people by Wednesday evening.

“We are searching house by house,” Ángel Martínez, a military emergency unit official, told Spanish national radio broadcaster RNE on Thursday from the town of Utiel, where at least six people were killed.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is heading to the region to witness the devastation firsthand as the country begins a three-day period of official mourning.

Pedestrians stand next to piled-up cars after deadly flooding in Sedavi, south of Valencia, eastern Spain, on October 30, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
Destroyed cars remained submerged on October 31, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

Thousands of people were left without water and electricity and hundreds were stranded after their cars were destroyed or roads were blocked. The region remained partially isolated with several roads cut and train lines disrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid, which officials say will not be repaired for several days.

While Valencia was hardest hit by the storm, two more victims were reported in the neighboring region of Castilla La Mancha. Southern Andalusia reported one death.

While the greatest human and material suffering was inflicted on the dozens of municipalities near the city of Valencia, the storms unleashed their fury on large parts of the southern and eastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula.

Homes were left without water as far south as Malaga, Andalusia, where a high-speed train derailed on Tuesday evening, although none of the nearly 300 passengers were injured.

Farmers’ greenhouses and fields across Spain’s southern arc, known as the Garden of Europe for its exported produce, were also devastated by heavy rains, floods and winds. The storms caused a bizarre tornado in Valencia and a hail storm that punched holes in cars in Andalusia.

A distraught man waits for news of his relatives trapped during the floods in Valencia, Spain on October 31, 2024. AP
People gather items in muddy aisles at a Consum supermarket that was destroyed after the flood. Getty Images

The sky showed some mercy to the hardest-hit areas by shutting down early Wednesday.

But the heavy rain continued further north on Thursday and the Spanish weather agency issued a red alert for several provinces in Castellón, the northernmost province in the Valencia region, and an orange warning for southern Tarragona, in northeastern Catalonia , and the west coast of Cádiz. , in the southwest.

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding.

But this was the most powerful flash flood in recent history. Scientists link it to climate change, which is also responsible for increasing temperatures and droughts in Spain and the warming of the Mediterranean Sea.

The violence of the weather event took regional government officials by surprise. Spain’s national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian city of Chiva than in the previous 20 months, calling the deluge “extraordinary.”

Yet the relative calm of the next day also gave time to reflect and wonder whether authorities could have done more to save lives.

The Valencian regional government is being criticized for not sending flood warnings to people’s mobile phones until 8pm on Tuesday, when flooding had already started in some parts and long after the national weather agency had issued a red alert for heavy rain.

Andreu Salom, mayor of the Valencian village of L’Alcudia, told national broadcaster RTVE that his town had lost at least two residents, a daughter and her elderly mother who lived together, and that police were still searching for the missing truck driver.

“We had no indication that the river would overflow its banks, which happened around 6pm when a wall of water and mud filled the city center and washed everything away,” he said.