158 Confirmed Dead In Valencia Floods, Worst In Modern Spanish History; More Rain Coming

The death toll from devastating floods in eastern Spain has risen to 158, regional authorities and emergency services have said, as the country began three days of mourning and the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, urged people to stay at home. With forecasts of more bad weather prompting storm alerts farther north, Sánchez urged residents on Thursday to “please, follow the calls of the emergency services … Right now the most important thing is to save as many lives as possible.”

Officials in the stricken eastern region of Valencia said 155 bodies had been recovered there, with three deaths also reported from the Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia regions. The toll makes the disaster the deadliest episode of flooding in Spain’s modern history. Authorities have not disclosed how many people are still unaccounted for but the defence minister, Margarita Robles, earlier said the death toll was expected to rise further given some areas remain inaccessible to rescuers.

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The intense rain has been attributed to the gota fría or “cold drop” phenomenon, which occurs when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean, creating atmospheric instability that causes warm, saturated air to rise rapidly, leading to heavy rain and thunderstorms. Scientists say the human-driven climate crisis is increasing the length, frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The warming of the Mediterranean, which increases water evaporation, plays a key role in making torrential rains more severe, experts have also said.

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The transport minister, Óscar Puente, said about 80km (50 miles) of roads had been badly damaged or were impassable. He said many were blocked by abandoned cars, some “unfortunately with dead bodies inside”. It could take up to three weeks to reopen the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Valencia, he added. King Felipe VI warned the emergency was “still not over”, and Aemet issued its highest level of alert for the province of Castellón, and amber alerts for the city of Tarragona, farther north in the Catalonia region, and the west coast of Cádiz, across the country in the south-west.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/31/spain-floods-valencia-death-toll-three-days-mourning