Flash floods in eastern Spain swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers, cut rail lines and highways and killed at least 95 people in the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory.
Storms that began Tuesday and continued Wednesday caused flooding across a wide swathe of southern and eastern Spain, from Malaga to Valencia. Mud-colored water swept vehicles down streets at dangerous speeds. Pieces of wood floated among household goods. Police and rescue workers used helicopters to evacuate people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers trapped on car roofs.
Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed the death toll at 92 on Wednesday. Two other deaths were reported in the neighboring region of Castilla La Mancha.
“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldón, mayor of Utiel, a town in Valencia, told state broadcaster RTVE. He said six residents of his town had died and several more were reported missing.
“It was a rat trap, cars and containers were moving through the streets. The water reached three metres,” he explained.
Rescuers were searching for survivors and victims, with several people still missing. Spain’s central government has declared three days of mourning starting Thursday for those who died in the devastating floods.
“To those who are still searching for their loved ones, all of Spain mourns with all of you,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a televised address. “Our absolute priority is to help you. We will provide all the necessary resources today and tomorrow and for as long as it takes so that we can recover from this tragedy.”
More than 1,600 soldiers from the Military Emergency Unit were deployed to the devastated areas and emergency personnel were travelling to the affected areas from different parts of the country. Spain’s central government formed a crisis committee to help coordinate rescue efforts.
The elderly were the most vulnerable. RTVE showed a video of a nursing home with several elderly people sitting or in wheelchairs with the water level above their knees, and of a unit of soldiers who rescued an elderly couple from the upper floor of their home in the bucket of an excavator.
Television stations broadcast videos recorded by terrified residents documenting floodwaters inundating ground-floor apartments, overflowing creeks and at least one bridge collapsing. People could be heard reacting as they pointed to what they feared were bodies floating in the fast-moving brown floodwater.
The Spanish Meteorological Agency said the rainfall was “extraordinary” in parts of Valencia.
Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years, but nothing compared to the devastation of the past two days, reminiscent of floods in Germany and Belgium in 2021 that left 230 dead.
The death toll is likely to rise as other regions have yet to report casualties and search efforts continue in hard-to-reach areas.
In the town of Letur in the neighbouring region of Castilla La Mancha, Mayor Sergio Marín Sánchez said five people were missing.
Spain is still recovering from a severe drought and has seen record temperatures in recent years. Scientists say episodes of extreme weather could be linked to climate change.
The storms unleashed an unusual hailstorm that pierced car windows and greenhouses, as well as a rare tornado.
Transport was also affected. A high-speed train with almost 300 people on board derailed near Malaga, although rail authorities said no one was injured. High-speed train service between the city of Valencia and Madrid was disrupted, as were several short-distance routes. Some 1,500 people were left overnight at Valencia airport before catching their flights.
Valencian regional president Carlos Mazón urged people to stay at home to avoid complicating rescue efforts, as road travel was already difficult due to fallen trees and wrecked vehicles. Mazón said downed power lines left areas without electricity, while phone lines were jammed with calls. He added that the national emergency service had handled about 30,000 calls.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels that the EU would assist by using its Copernicus geosurveillance satellite system “to help coordinate rescue teams.”
He said the European bloc is ready to activate a civil protection mechanism offering the combined assistance of the other 26 member countries if Spain needs help.
“Europe is ready to help,” said von der Leyen.
As the water level receded, thick layers of mud mixed with debris made the streets unrecognizable.
“The neighborhood is destroyed, all the cars are on top of each other, it is literally destroyed,” said Christian Viena, owner of a bar in the Valencian town of Barrio de la Torre, by phone. “Everything is a total wreck, everything is ready to be thrown away. The mud is almost 30 centimeters (11 inches) deep.”
Outside the Vienna bar, people were pouring out to see what they could salvage. Cars were piled up and the streets were littered with piles of water-soaked branches.
Relatives of people reported missing flooded social media and local television and radio channels with requests to find their loved ones.
Leonardo Enrique told RTVE that his family had been searching for hours for his son, Leonardo Enrique Rivera, 40, who was driving a delivery van when it started to rain. His son had sent a message saying that his van was flooding and that he had been hit by another vehicle when he was near Ribarroja, an industrial town that is one of the hardest hit, Enrique said.
Football matches between Valencia and neighboring club Levante have been postponed.
Valencia, located south of Barcelona along the Mediterranean coast, is a tourist destination known for its beaches, citrus orchards and as the home of paella, a typical rice dish.
Like other areas of Spain, Valencia has gorges and small river beds that spend most of the year completely dry but quickly fill with water when it rains. Many of these torrents flow through populated areas.
Rain had eased in Valencia by Wednesday morning. However, storms were expected to continue into Thursday, according to the Spanish Meteorological Agency.