An assessment already dramatic in itself, which risks changing in the coming hours. Several lifeless bodies were found in the Valencia region, in eastern Spain, where torrential rains caused flash floods, the head of the regional government announced this Wednesday morning, October 30.
“We can confirm that some bodies have already been found,” Carlos Mazón told the media, adding that authorities could not give more details until the families are informed. However, the exact whereabouts of the victims have not been provided, and the regional official emphasizes that not all of the victims’ relatives have yet been notified, he adds. The World.
“We only had time to climb a bridge”
“We are facing an unprecedented situation, which no one has seen before,” added the president of the region. Through her X account, the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, for her part indicated that 400 people have been evacuated from their homes in the last few hours.
The authorities reported on Tuesday that seven people were missing, including one in L’Alcudia, in the Valencian Community, and six in Letur, in the neighboring province of Albacete (Castilla-La Mancha), where a flood invaded the streets and It destroyed cars and flooded buildings, according to images broadcast by Spanish television channels. Tornadoes were also observed locally.
Speaking to BFMTV, Christophe Dubernat, a Frenchman who was driving on the highway that connects Valencia with Alicante, testifies to the panic that accompanied the torrential rains.
“We saw the water starting to rise. We only had time to go up to a bridge where we were sheltered. We are still trapped, there are thirty cars,” he explained, early Wednesday morning.
According to him, the speed of the rising water caused surprise among motorists, even though the road was not yet closed. “Surprisingly, flooding was announced but the axis was not blocked until the water rose several tens of centimeters in a quarter of an hour,” he recalls.
Locally, it is estimated that 400 liters of water fell per square meter, the equivalent of nine months of rain in Paris over a full year.
crisis unit
The emergency services, supported by drones, are working all night to search for the missing in Letur, according to what the delegate of the central government in Castilla-La Mancha, Milagros Tolón, told public television TVE.
The central government created a crisis unit, which met for the first time on Tuesday afternoon, and sent an army unit specialized in rescue operations to the Valencia region.
“I follow with concern the information about missing people and the damage caused by the storm in recent hours,” the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, wrote in X, inviting the population to follow the advice of the authorities. “Be very careful and avoid unnecessary trips,” he added.
Valencia City Council announced that all schools would remain closed on Wednesday, as would public gardens, and that all sporting events would be cancelled.
A red alert that continues
The national meteorological agency, Aemet, declared a red alert in the Valencia region and the second highest alert level in some parts of Andalusia. He warned that the rains will continue at least until Thursday. Several roads were closed in both regions due to flooding.
The Valencian Community and the Spanish Mediterranean coast in general periodically experience, in autumn, the meteorological phenomenon of the “cold drop”, an isolated depression at high altitude that causes sudden and extremely violent rains, sometimes for several days.
Scientists warn that extreme weather events, such as heat waves and storms, are becoming more intense due to climate change.
Source: BFM TV
