The Spanish government announced, Wednesday October 30, a three-day national mourning following the atmospheric depression, tornadoes and dramatic floods which left nearly 100 dead – unheard of – in the east and south of the country. country, the toll continues to increase. The cities are cut off from the rest of the country. The surrounding region is largely affected and damaged by these bad weather “ Dantesque “.
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A month and a half later the storm Boris (23 dead) which flooded the center of Europe, the south of Spain suffered the same fate, again disastrous, since the latest assessment from the relief coordination body, Wednesday at 7:20 p.m., reported at least 95 dead, almost all in the Province of Valencia alone. Three days of mourning were declared until November 1.
Also readThe latest information on floods in Spain
If the two events are geographically quite distant, the culprit is the same: a cold dropa weather phenomenon known to weather professionals, but which does not necessarily have this intensity. And for good reason, there had been no such dana – its Spanish name – since 1996 in the country. That year, 87 people died and 180 were injured in a flash flood near Biesca in the Pyrenees.
In Chiva, a small village in the hinterland of Valencia, 491 liters of water fell per m2 in just eight hours: the equivalent of a year of precipitation, according to the Spanish meteorological agency Aemet, which speaks of “ extraordinary accumulations “.
These aerial images of Valencia and its region, shot from the national police helicopter, give an idea of the scale of the event of October 29 and 30, on part of the east and south-east coast of the ‘Spain.
On land, a landscape of desolation:
Among the most affected municipalities are Alcudia, in the Valencia region, and Letur, in the neighboring province of Albacete (Castile-La Mancha region), where six people are missing after the flash flood invaded the streets and took away cars.
On Tuesday, violent thunderstorms, accompanied by several tornadoes, swept around Valencia.
In these two cities, the urban landscape is nothing more than a vast apocalyptic theater.
In Valencia, videos shared on social media show people trapped by floods, some climbing trees to escape the waters. Rescue workers were also seen carrying several women into the body of a bulldozer.
Heartbreaking testimonies began to pour in. Like that of Toni Tarazona, a resident of Valencia quoted at length by the leading Spanish daily El Paíswho could do nothing to save his wife, Lourdes María García, and their three-month-old baby, who were swept away in their car.
“ The situation is dire (…) I had never seen this “, Consuelo Tarazona, the mayor of Horno de Alcedo, a town in the suburbs of Valencia, told TVE. The rising waters were “ monstrous ”, she said. “ We were flooded all of a sudden, without being able to warn the neighbors. »
“ The situation is terrible », assured journalists the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, specifying that a thousand soldiers, supported by helicopters, were in the area to lend a hand to the emergency services. The authorities have asked residents not to travel by road, while the central government has set up a crisis unit.
Carlos Mazon, the president of the Valencia region, told a news conference that due to access difficulties, people were still isolated. “ If (the emergency services) did not arrive, it is not because of a lack of resources (…) but because of a problem of access “, he specified.
Valencia town hall announced that all schools would remain closed on Wednesday and that all sporting events were canceled. Several flights scheduled to take off or land from Valencia airport (east) were diverted or canceled, according to Spanish airport operator Aena.
Trains between Madrid and Valencia were suspended due to the effects of the storm on main points of the railway network. High-speed traffic between the capital and the large eastern city will not resume until Sunday evening. The Mediterranean corridor between Barcelona, in the north, and Valencia also remains interrupted.
Several parts of the territory, particularly in southern Andalusia, around Cádiz, are on red alert for heavy rain, and the population is urged to exercise great caution and avoid travel.
