Rescuers raced on Thursday to search for survivors and victims of catastrophic floods in Spain that have claimed at least 95 lives, leaving towns submerged in mud and debris, with overturned cars strewn across the streets.
Approximately 1,000 troops joined police and firefighters in the challenging search for bodies in the Valencia region as Spain entered three days of mourning. Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres warned that the death toll could rise, noting that “there are many missing people.”
On Tuesday, a year’s worth of rain fell in just a few hours in the eastern city of Valencia and its surroundings, unleashing torrents of water and mud that devastated towns. Paiporta, a suburb of Valencia, was particularly hard-hit, with around 40 fatalities, including a mother and her baby swept away by the floodwaters.
Rescue teams worked tirelessly to save people stranded on rooftops, using helicopters, while others navigated flooded homes where water levels reached neck-high.
As dawn broke on Thursday, tens of thousands of homes remained without electricity or drinking water, and many roads were blocked by the wreckage of hundreds of vehicles swept away in the flooding.
Valencia’s emergency services reported conducting 200 ground rescues and 70 aerial evacuations on Wednesday, according to regional government chief Carlos Mazon. The provisional death toll had reached 92, with bodies still being recovered. Two additional fatalities were reported in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha, and another in Andalusia.
In Sedavi, a suburb of Valencia, streets were overwhelmed with a sea of mud and piled-up cars, leaving residents struggling to clear their homes of sludge and water. In Ribarroja del Turia, workers were trapped overnight in an industrial area, unable to be rescued as streams overflowed.
“It had been a long time since anything like this happened, and we’re scared,” said town councillor Esther Gomez.
Spain’s weather service, AEMET, reported that Chiva, west of Valencia, received 491 mm of rain in just eight hours on Tuesday—nearly a year’s worth.
In a televised address, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed solidarity with the victims and their families, saying, “All of Spain weeps with you… We won’t abandon you.” He planned to visit Valencia on Thursday.
Sanchez noted that the disaster was ongoing and pledged to deploy all necessary resources for recovery. King Felipe VI expressed his devastation and offered condolences to the families of the victims.
Efforts to reach affected communities were hampered by damage to telephone networks and flooded roads, but access was restored by Wednesday evening, Mazon reported. Approximately 155,000 homes in the Valencia region lost power due to the storm, according to energy company Iberdrola.
The European Union activated its Copernicus satellite system to support Spanish rescue operations, with EU Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen offering to send additional reinforcements through its civil protection mechanism.
Survivors were being housed in temporary accommodations, including fire stations, as rail and air transport faced severe disruptions. The high-speed train service between Valencia and Madrid would remain suspended for at least four days, according to the Adif rail authority.
This disaster marks Spain’s deadliest flood event since 1973, when at least 150 people lost their lives in the southeastern provinces of Granada, Murcia, and Almeria. Scientists have warned that extreme weather events like the recent storm in Valencia are becoming more intense and frequent due to climate change, which can overwhelm existing defenses and contingency plans, even in wealthy nations like Spain. Experts pointed out that the heavy death toll followed warnings of extreme rainfall, raising questions about the effectiveness of Valencia’s flood alert system.
