By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

VALENCIA, SPAIN (Worthy News) – Spanish King Felipe VI has expressed his condolences and sadness after officials said at least 95 people died in Spain’s deadliest flooding in three decades.

Torrential rain battered especially the region of Valencia on the eastern coast Tuesday, where most victims were reported as water left roads and towns under water, local authorities said Wednesday.

Trains to Madrid and Barcelona were reportedly canceled, and areas northeast of Gibraltar showed high rainfall levels.

Footage from the town of Utiel showed rescuers using dinghies working in the dark to scour the floodwaters, taking several people to safety.

Emergency services were still working to reach the worst-hit areas in the European Union state.

Destinations popular with British and other Western holidaymakers, including Valencia, Málaga in eastern and southern Spain, and the Balearic Islands, were among the worst affected after torrential rain and strong winds from Storm Dana battered the country.

BROADER CONCERNS

Aemet, Spain’s national weather agency, released a special advisory notice covering mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, and forecasters warned that the extreme weather could last through to the end of the week

Britain’s Met Office, the nation’s leading meteorological service, also issued a rare weather alert for parts of eastern Spain, warning tourists that “flash flooding, landslides and significant disruption” were due this week as Spain continues to face torrential rain and thunderstorms.

With rescuers clearly overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, the Spanish king rushed to an airbase Wednesday, saying on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he had been in contact with local leaders and Spain’s interior minister.

“The main thing is to express condolences and sadness for the loss of so many human lives. There has also been enormous destruction of infrastructure and material goods of very many people,” the monarch added, speaking from the Gando Air Base in Gran Canaria.

He spoke as said scores of people died in the flooding, mainly in the Valencia region. The death toll appeared to be Europe’s worst from flooding since 2021 when at least 185 people died in Germany, officials said.

“There are still difficulties accessing some. Therefore, there is still no complete information about the impact of the scope of the effects, including the possible victims,” the king stressed.

HUMAN SUFFERING

His comments resonated with people on the ground as details emerged of human suffering, with the central government office for Castilla La Mancha region confirming that an 88-year-old woman was among those found dead in Cuenca province.

One woman told the Loli television program that she hadn’t spoken to her 25-year-old son “since 10 pm last night.”

Witnesses said around 600 people were trapped in the Bonaire Mall, Valencia’s largest shopping center, overnight after ground-floor flooding.

Drivers published videos showing the horrific conditions on the roads, with many abandoning their vehicles as the water rose.

A taxi driver called Paco said he was hit by a wall of water with “brutal” force while driving on the outskirts of Valencia city, the capital of the Valencia region. “We were heading along a road leading to the CV-36 motorway, and as we got to a roundabout before we reached it, we saw people warning us to turn round,” he recalled.

Outside Valencia, the tourist hotspot Malaga appeared caught between two areas of heavy rainfall to its north and west.

DAM FEARS

And there are fears the Cirat-Vallat dam – in Castellon, north of Valencia, could burst, with officials putting out a warning after they couldn’t open the gates.

The nearby town of Vilareal activated its emergency protocol, ordering those with houses near the Mijares River to evacuate.

There has been discussion among commentators and experts about what contributed to the death toll, with several blaming the warming of the Mediterranean Sea due to “climate change” while others blame urbanization and bad infrastructure.

Meteorologists said warm and moist Mediterranean air than usual was sucked high into the atmosphere after a cold system hit the country from the south.

The easterly wind then pushed all those clouds and rain into eastern Spain. In some places, three to four months of rain fell in the space of 24 hours.

The so-called “DANA system” hit southern Spain as it arrived from Morocco on Tuesday and was expected to head west over south Portugal.

Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.

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