Heavy rains hit the eastern Spanish province of Valencia and surrounding areas, which are currently suffering the worst flooding in decades, leaving at least 95 people dead and dozens missing.
Heavy rains on Tuesday triggered flash floods that washed away bridges and buildings, forcing people to climb onto rooftops or climb trees to survive.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning as extreme conditions continued and some relief efforts were limited.
The government said the death toll was likely to rise because “many people are missing.”
At least 92 people died in Valencia, while two others died in Castile-La Mancha, west of Valencia, and one died in Malaga – after a 71-year-old British man was rescued from his home Died in hospital.
The death toll from the floods is the country’s worst since 1973, when at least 150 people are estimated to have died in the worst flooding ever recorded in the southeast of the country.
In a national address on Wednesday, Sanchez urged citizens to remain vigilant and promised full recovery, telling victims: “The whole of Spain weeps with you… We will not abandon you.”
Chihua, one of the first affected towns near Valencia, reported on Tuesday a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours, according to national weather agency Aemet.
Survivors in Valencia told of the horror of Tuesday night’s flooding as Spanish troops and emergency workers rushed to rescue people on Wednesday morning, including hoisting people to safety from balconies and car roofs.
Sudden flooding turned streets and roads into rivers, catching many motorists off guard.
Guillermo Serrano Pérez, 21, from Paiporta, near Valencia, said the floodwaters rushed down the highway “like a tsunami”, forcing him and The parents abandoned the car and climbed onto a bridge to survive.
Associated PressAnother witness recounted a scene when motorway drivers realized a torrent was coming towards them and formed a human chain to escape along a raised central reserve.
Patricia Rodriguez, 45, told El Pais: “Thank God no one slipped because if someone had fallen the current would have swept them away.”
A resident of La Torre told the BBC that some of his friends had lost their homes and that on Tuesday night he “saw cars floating in the water” and that the tide had “broke through some walls”.
Meanwhile, the mayor of the town of Honoro de Alcedo outside Valencia told the BBC News Hour that water levels had risen by more than a meter in just a few minutes.
“The water was flowing so fast we called the emergency services and they started rescuing some people with water up to their necks,” said Consuelo Tarazon.
Spain has widely accused disaster authorities of acting too slowly after issuing warnings in many cases, meaning people were unable to leave the roads or seek higher ground.
Civil protection agencies deployed during national disasters did not issue an alert until 20:15 local time on Tuesday night, but by then Chihua and several other towns had been flooded for at least two hours.
Valencia’s regional government has also been forced to defend its decision to abolish the Valencian emergency team, which was set up by the previous government to respond to natural disasters such as floods and wildfires.
Spain deployed more than 1,000 soldiers to assist rescue efforts on Wednesday, but many workers remained isolated from towns as roads were flooded and communications and power lines were down.
EU President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU has launched the Copernicus satellite system to help coordinate Spanish rescue teams. Other European neighbors have also offered to send reinforcements.
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said earlier on Wednesday that the flooding in the area was an “unprecedented phenomenon”.
Heavy downpours in the country’s central and eastern regions eased on Wednesday, but weather officials warned the rain was moving northeast towards Catalonia. Weather warnings were also issued in several other parts of the country, urging people to prepare for flooding and take shelter.
There are many factors that cause flooding, but warming due to climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.
Weather researchers have determined that the likely main cause of heavy rainfall is “gota fria” – a natural weather event that hits Spain in autumn and winter when cold air falls over the warm waters of the Mediterranean.
However, scientists told the BBC that rising global temperatures are causing clouds to carry more rain.
“Every degree of warming caused by fossil fuels leads to more moisture in the atmosphere, leading to greater rainfall,” said Dr. Friedrich Otto of Imperial College London, who leads an international team of scientists trying to understand this effect.
“There is no doubt that climate change is exacerbating these explosive downpours.”
Global temperatures have risen by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the industrial era and will continue to rise unless governments around the world drastically cut emissions.
