- Floods kill at least 155 people, and an undisclosed number are still missing.
- More weather alerts have been issued as the storm moves north.
- Residents in the most affected areas are cleaning up and counting the losses.
Valencia: On Thursday, rescue teams found the bodies of eight people who were trapped in a garage after devastating floods struck eastern Spain, while the death toll in the Valencia region alone rose to 155.
Local authorities did not reveal the number of people still missing after the deadliest floods in Europe in years, and Defense Minister Margarita Robles said the final death toll at the national level could be much higher.
Opposition politicians accused the central government in Madrid of acting too slowly in warning residents and sending rescue teams, prompting the Interior Ministry to say that regional authorities were responsible for civil protection measures.
Valencia Mayor Maria Jose Catala told reporters that a local policeman was among the eight bodies found drowned in a garage in the city’s La Torre suburb. She added that in the same neighborhood, a 45-year-old woman was found dead in her home.
“These people would not have died if they had been warned in time,” said Laura Velascosa, a neighbor and manager of a local supermarket. Reuters.
Meteorologists said the amount of rain that fell throughout the year fell within eight hours in parts of Valencia on Tuesday.
The floods devastated Valencia’s infrastructure, sweeping away bridges, roads and railway lines and submerging farmland in a region that produces about two-thirds of citrus grown in Spain, a major global exporter of oranges.
Thousands of people were seen carrying bags or pushing shopping carts on Thursday as they crossed a pedestrian bridge over the Torre River from La Torre to downtown Valencia to stock up on basic supplies such as toilet paper and water.
Maribel El Balat, mayor of the nearby town of Bayporta, said they had received no warning of the impending flood risk. She said that 62 people died in her town.
“We found a lot of elderly people inside their homes and people who went to get their cars,” she said. “It was a trap.” TVE.
Hold on to the pole
In Godelita, a town located 37 kilometers west of Valencia, Antonio Molina (52 years old) described how he survived a flash flood on Tuesday evening by clinging to a pole on a neighbor’s balcony with water up to his neck until the heavy rain fell. I finally calmed down.
His dog was later found alive swimming in the water, while his wife and son saved themselves by getting to the top floor of their house.
Molina’s home had already been exposed to major floods in 2018 and 2020, and he blamed the authorities for allowing the construction of residential buildings in depressions where water accumulated.
“We don’t want to live here anymore,” he said, crying. “As soon as we get a few drops of rain, we’re already checking our phones.”
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said that about 80 kilometers of roads in the eastern region were severely damaged or impassable. Many abandoned cars were blocked.
“Unfortunately, there are bodies in some of the vehicles,” Puente told reporters, adding that it would take two to three weeks to restart the high-speed train line between Valencia and Madrid.
During his visit to a rescue coordination center near the city of Valencia, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged people to stay home due to the threat of more stormy weather.
“The most important thing now is to protect as many lives as possible,” he told reporters.
In the hard-hit rural town of Util, about 85 kilometers inland, the Magro River burst its banks, pouring up to three meters of water into mostly single-storey homes.
Yotel Mayor Ricardo Gabaldon said at least six people died in the town of about 12,000 people, most of them elderly or disabled people who were unable to reach safety.
Residents used tractor-mounted water pumps as they began the cleanup operation early Thursday, and children helped clear the sidewalks. Destroyed household appliances and furniture piled up in the middle of the roads, and elderly people struggled to walk on the slippery, mud-covered streets.
Pope Francis said he was praying for the people of the area. “I am close to them in this moment of disaster,” he said in a video posted on X.
Since climate change is linked to frequent episodes of extreme weather, Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at Britain’s University of Reading, said the Valencia floods demonstrated the need for greater public awareness of the risks.
“We saw that people were putting themselves in danger driving through floodwaters, and there was a lot of water that was submerging these places,” she said.