1-11-2024 (VALENCIA) A catastrophic flooding event in eastern Spain has claimed at least 158 lives, with dozens more still missing, as rescue teams continue their desperate search in what could become Europe’s deadliest storm-related disaster since the 1970s.
Angel Victor Torres, Spain’s minister for regional cooperation, confirmed the mounting death toll Thursday, following what meteorologists described as a year’s worth of rainfall concentrated into just eight hours across the Valencia region on Tuesday.
In the La Torre district of Valencia, rescue workers made the grim discovery of eight bodies, including a local police officer, trapped in a submerged garage. The city’s mayor, Maria Jose Catala, also reported the death of a 45-year-old woman found in her home in the same neighbourhood.
The disaster has sparked political controversy, with opposition figures criticising the central government’s response time and warning systems. Local officials, including Paiporta Mayor Maribel Albalat, where 62 residents perished, claimed insufficient warning was given to inhabitants.
Survivor accounts paint a harrowing picture of the disaster. In Godelleta, 37 kilometres west of Valencia, Antonio Molina, 52, described clinging to a neighbour’s porch pillar for survival as floodwaters reached his neck. “We don’t want to live here anymore,” he said, noting this was his third flood experience since 2018.
The catastrophe has severely damaged regional infrastructure, destroying bridges, roads, and railway lines. Transport Minister Oscar Puente estimated it would take up to three weeks to restore the high-speed rail connection between Valencia and Madrid.
Compilation of what happened in Valencia, Spain.
The government failed to warn us. We even sent the kids to school this day. The result of incompetence can go up to loosing lives. pic.twitter.com/0EwEgKwgL3— Charlie B. (@K1077151531207) November 1, 2024
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, visiting a rescue coordination centre, urged residents to remain indoors due to continued weather threats. The floods have particularly devastated Spain’s crucial citrus-growing region, which produces approximately two-thirds of the country’s orange exports.
Climate scientists from research group Climate Central attribute the disaster to an “atmospheric river” carrying excessive moisture from an unusually warm Tropical Atlantic, highlighting the growing impact of climate change on extreme weather events.
Prior to this disaster, Europe’s most severe flood-related casualties included 185 deaths in Germany in 2021 and 209 in Romania in 1970.
