Volunteers and locals walk with supplies to help places affected by heavy rains that caused floods, in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, November 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Three days after historic flash floods swept through several towns in southern Valencia, in eastern Spain, the initial shock was giving way to anger, frustration and a wave of solidarity on Friday (November 1, 2024).

Many streets are still blocked by piled-up vehicles and debris, in some cases trapping residents in their homes. Some places still don’t have electricity, running water, or stable telephone connections.

Residents turned to media to appeal for help.

“This is a disaster. There are a lot of elderly people who don’t have medicine. There are children who don’t have food. We don’t have milk, we don’t have water. We have no access to anything,” a resident of Alfafar, one of the most affected towns in south Valencia, told state television station TVE. “No one even came to warn us on the first day.”

So far 158 bodies have been recovered — 155 in Valencia, two in the Castilla La Mancha region and one more in Andalusia — after Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory. Members of the security forces and soldiers are busy searching for an unknown number of missing people, many feared to still be trapped in wrecked vehicles or flooded garages.

And as authorities repeat over and over, more storms are expected. The Spanish weather agency issued alerts for strong rains in Tarragona, Catalonia, as well as part of the Balearic Islands.

Meanwhile, flood survivors and volunteers are engaged in the titanic task of clearing an omnipresent layer of dense mud.

Residents in communities like Paiporta, where at least 62 people died, and Catarroja, have been walking kilometres to Valencia to get provisions, passing neighbours from unaffected areas who are bringing carry water, essential products or shovels to help remove the mud.

Juan Ramón Adsuara, the mayor of Alfafar, one of the hardest hit towns, said the aid isn’t nearly enough for residents trapped in an “extreme situation.”

“There are people living with corpses at home. It’s very sad. We are organising ourselves, but we are running out of everything,” he told reporters. “We go with vans to Valencia, we buy and we come back, but here we are totally forgotten.”

Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, leaving many uninhabitable.

Social networks have channelled the needs of those affected. Some posted images of missing people in the hope of getting information about their whereabouts, while others launched initiatives such as Suport Mutu — or Mutual Support — which connects requests for help with people who are offering it; and others organised collections of basic goods throughout all the country or launched fundraisers.

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flooding in recent memory. Scientists link it to climate change, which is also behind increasingly high temperatures and droughts in Spain and the heating up of the Mediterranean Sea.

Human-caused climate change has doubled the likelihood of a storm like this week’s deluge in Valencia, according to a partial analysis issued Thursday by World Weather Attribution, a group made up of dozens of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather.

Spain has suffered through an almost two-year drought, making the flooding worse because the dry ground was so hard that it could not absorb the rain.

In August 1996, a flood swept away a campsite along the Gallego river in Biescas, in the northeast, killing 87 people.

Crews searched for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings on Thursday (October 31, 2024) as residents salvaged what they could from their ruined homes following monstrous flash floods in Spain that claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone.

More horrors emerged on Thursday (October 31, 2024) from the debris and ubiquitous layers of mud left by the walls of water that produced Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory. The damage from the storm late Tuesday and early Wednesday recalled the aftermath of a tsunami, with survivors left to pick up the pieces as they mourned their loved ones.

Cars were piled on one another like fallen dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items all mired in mud that covered streets in dozens of communities in Valencia, a region south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.

An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found.

“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said early Thursday (October 31, 2024) before the death toll spiked from 95 on Wednesday (October 30, 2024) night.

Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in its path. The floods demolished bridges and left roads unrecognizable.

Luís Sánchez, a welder, said he saved several people who were trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of Valencia city. The road rapidly became a floating graveyard strewn with hundreds of vehicles.

“I saw bodies floating past. I called out, but nothing,” Sánchez said. “The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”

Regional authorities said late Wednesday (October 30, 2024) that rescuers in helicopters saved some 70 people stranded on rooftops and in cars, but ground crews were far from done.

“We are searching house by house,” Ángel Martínez, one of 1,000 soldiers helping with rescue efforts told Spain’s national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.

An Associated Press journalist saw rescuers remove seven body bags from an underground garage in Barrio de la Torre.

“Our priority is to find the victims and the missing so we can help end the suffering of their families,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said after meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday (October 31, 2024), the first of three official days of mourning.

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flood in recent memory. Scientists link it to climate change, which is also behind increasingly high temperatures and droughts in Spain and the heating up of the Mediterranean Sea.

Human-caused climate change has doubled the likelihood of a storm like this week’s deluge in Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, comprising dozens of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather.

Spain has suffered through an almost two-year drought, meaning that when the deluge happened, the ground was so hard that it could not absorb the rain, leading to flash floods.

The violent weather event surprised regional government officials. Spain’s national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian town of Chiva than it had in the preceding 20 months.

A man wept as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his home in Catarroja, south of Valencia. It looked as though a bomb had detonated inside, obliterating furniture and belongings and stripping the paint off some walls.

In Paiporta, mayor Maribel Albalat said on Thursday (October 31, 2024) that at least 62 people had perished in the community of 25,000 next to Valencia city.

“(Paiporta) never has floods; we never have this kind of problem. And we found a lot of elderly people in the town center,” Ms. Albalat told RTVE. “There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages … it was a real trap.’

While the most suffering was inflicted on municipalities near the city of Valencia, the storms unleashed their fury over huge swaths of the south and eastern coast of the Iberian peninsula. Two fatalities were confirmed in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region and one in southern Andalusia.

Greenhouses and farms across southern Spain, known as Europe’s garden for its exported produce, were also ruined by heavy rains and flooding. The storms spawned a freak tornado in Valencia and a hail storm that punched holes in cars in Andalusia. Homes were left without water as far southwest as Malaga in Andalusia.

Heavy rains continued on Thursday (October 31, 2024) farther north as the Spanish weather agency issued alerts for several counties in Castellón, in the eastern Valencia region, and for Tarragona in Catalonia, as well as southwest Cadiz.

“This storm front is still with us,” the Prime Minister said. “Stay home and heed the official recommendation and you will help save lives.”

As the shock dissipated, anger grew over the authorities’ handling of the crisis, both for their late warnings of the looming floods and the chaotic relief response.

Many survivors had to walk long distances in sticky mud to find food and water. Most of their cars had been destroyed and the mud, destruction and debris left by the storm made some roads unpassable. Some pushed shopping carts along sodden streets while others carried their children to keep them out of the muck.

Some 150,000 people in Valencia were without electricity on Wednesday (October 30, 2024), but roughly half had power by Thursday (October 31, 2024). An unknown number did not have running water and were relying on whatever bottled water they could find.

The region remained partly isolated with several roads cut off and train lines interrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid. Officials said it would take two to three weeks to repair that damaged line.

And with emergency personnel focused on recovering the dead, survivors were left to find basic supplies and clean up the mess. Volunteers joined locals in moving wrecked vehicles, removing junk and sweeping mud.

With local services clearly overwhelmed, Valencia regional President Carlos Mazón asked on Thursday (October 31, 2024) if Spain’s army could assist with distributing basic goods to the population. The Government in Madrid responded by promising to send in 500 more soldiers, more national police and Civil Guards.

But necessity — and the post-apocalyptic atmosphere — prompted some to enter abandoned stores.

The National Police arrested 39 people for looting on Wednesday (October 30, 2024). The Civil Guard said it detained 11 people for thefts in shopping malls, while its officers were also deployed to stop people stealing from cars.

Some people said they had to steal supplies, especially those who have no running water or a way to get to stores that were not wrecked.

“We are not thieves. I work as a cleaner at the school for the council. But we have to eat. Look at what I’m picking up: baby food for the baby,” said Nieves Vargas in a local supermarket whose doors had been tossed aside by the water and was unattended by staff. “What can I give to the child, if we don’t have electricity.”

People walk through flooded streets in Valencia, Spain, on October 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

At least 51 people have died in Spain’s eastern region of Valencia after flash floods swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers and disrupted rail lines and highways in the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory.

Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed the death toll on Wednesday (October 30, 2024). Rainstorms on Tuesday (October 29, 2024) caused flooding in a wide swath of southern and eastern Spain.

Floods of mud-coloured water tumbled vehicles down streets at frightening speeds. Pieces of wood swirled with household articles. Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and cars.

Authorities reported several missing people on Tuesday (October 29, 2024), but the following morning brought the shocking announcement of dozens found dead. More than 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units were deployed to the devastated areas.

“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel, a town in Valencia, told national broadcaster RTVE. He said several people were still missing in his town.

“We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to three meters,” he said. Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years, but nothing compared to the devastation over the last two days.

The death toll could easily rise with other regions yet to report victims and search efforts continuing in areas with difficult access. In the village of Letur in the neighbouring Castilla La Mancha region, Mayor Sergio Marín Sánchez said six people were missing.

A high-speed train with nearly 300 people on board derailed near Malaga, although rail authorities said no one was hurt. High-speed train service between Valencia city and Madrid was interrupted, as were several commuter lines.

Valencian regional President Carlos Mazón urged people to stay at home so as not to complicate rescue efforts, with travel by road already difficult due to fallen trees and wrecked vehicles.

“The neighbourhood is destroyed, all the cars are on top of each other, it’s literally smashed up,” Christian Viena, a bar owner in the Valencian village of Barrio de la Torre, said by phone. “Everything is a total wreck, everything is ready to be thrown away. The mud is almost 30 centimeters deep.” Spain’s central government set up a crisis committee to help coordinate rescue efforts.

The rain had subsided in Valencia by late Wednesday morning (October 30, 2024.) But more storms were forecast through Thursday (October 31, 2024), according to Spain’s national weather service. Spain is still recovering from a severe drought earlier this year. Scientists say increased episodes of extreme weather are likely linked to climate change.