Spain Floods: What We Know About Unprecedented Disaster Which Killed Over 200

Mrid: In a matter of minutes, flash floods caused by heavy downpours in eastern Spain swept away everything in ir path. With time to react, people were trapped in vehicles, homes and businesses. Many died and thousands saw livelihoods shattered.

Four days later, authorities have recovered 205 bodies — 202 of m in eastern Valencia region, two in Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia. y continued to search for an unkwn number of missing people on Friday.

Thousands of volunteers were helping to clear away thick layers of mud and debris that still covered houses, streets and ros, all while facing power and water cuts and shorts of some basic goods. Inside some of vehicles that water washed into piles or crashed into buildings, re were still bodies waiting to be identified.

Here are a few things to kw about Spain's deliest storm in living memory: What happened? storms concentrated over Magro and Turia river basins and, in Poyo riverbed, produced walls of water that overflowed riverbanks, catching people unaware as y went on with ir daily lives, with many coming home from work on Tuesday evening.

Spain hit by massive floods

In blink of an eye, muddy water covered ros, railways and entered houses and businesses in vills on sourn outskirts of Valencia city. Drivers h to take shelter on car roofs, while residents tried to take refuge on higher ground.

Spain's national wear service said that in hard-hit locality of Chiva it rained more in eight hours than it h in preceding 20 months, calling deluge “extraordinary.” When authorities sent alert to mobile phones warning of seriousness of phemen and asked m to stay at home, many were alrey on ro, working or covered in water in low-lying areas or gars, which became death traps.

How flash floods triggered in Spain?

Why did se massive flash floods happen? Scientists trying to explain what happened see two likely connections to human-caused climate change. One is that warmer air holds and n dumps more rain. or is possible changes in jet stream — river of air above land that moves wear systems across globe — that spawn extreme wear.

Climate scientists and meteorologists said immediate cause of flooding is called a cut-off lower pressure storm system that migrated from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream. That system simply parked over region and poured rain. This happens often eugh that in Spain y call m DANAs, Spanish acronym for system, meteorologists said.

And n re is unusually high temperature of Mediterranean Sea. It h its warmest surface temperature on record in mid-August, at 28.47 degrees Celsius (83.25 degrees Fahrenheit), said Carola Koenig of Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience at Brunel University of London.

Spain witnessed prolonged droughts in 2022-2023

extreme wear event came after Spain battled with prolonged droughts in 2022 and 2023. Experts say that drought and flood cycles are increasing with climate change.

Has this happened before? Spain's Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this episode was most powerful flash flood event in recent memory.

Older people in Paiporta, ground zero of trdy, claim that Tuesday's floods were three times as b as those of 1957, which caused at least 81 deaths and were worst in history of tourist eastern region. That episode led to diversion of Turia watercourse, which meant that a large part of city was spared of se floods.

Valencia suffered two or major DANAs in 1980s, one in 1982, with around 30 deaths, and ar one five years later, which broke rainfall records.

This week's flash floods are also Spain's deliest natural trdy in living memory, surpassing flood that swept away a campsite along Gallego river in Biescas, in rast, killing 87 people in August 1996.

What has state response been? manment of crisis, classified as level two on a scale of three by Valencian government, is in hands of regional authorities, who can ask central government for help in mobilizing resources.

At request of Valencia's president, Carlos Mazon, of conservative Popular Party, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez anunced Saturday deployment of 5,000 more soldiers who will join rescue efforts, clear debris and provide water and food over weekend.

government will also send 5,000 more national police officers to region, Sánchez said.

At present re are some 2,000 soldiers from Military Emergency Unit, army's first intervention force for natural disasters and humanitarian crises, involved in emergency work, as well as almost 2,500 Civil Guard gendarmes — who have carried out 4,500 rescues during floods — and 1,800 national police officers.

When many of those affected said y felt abandoned by authorities, a wave of volunteers took streets to help. Carrying brooms, shovels, water and basic foods, hundreds of people have walked several kilometers each day to deliver supplies and help clean up worst-affected areas.

Sanchez's government is expected to approve a disaster declaration on Tuesday that will allow quick access to financial aid. Mazon has anunced ditional ecomic assistance.

Valencia regional government h been criticised for t sending out flood warnings to mobile phones until 8 pm on Tuesday, when flooding h alrey started in some places and well after national wear ncy issued a red alert indicating heavy rains.