The biggest flood in recent decades in Spain has killed at least 64 people

Eva Manez and David Latona

LA ALCUDIA, Spain (Reuters) – At least 64 people have died in the worst flooding to hit Spain in three decades after torrential rain lashed the eastern region of Valencia on Tuesday, leaving roads and towns under water, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Rescuers using boats worked in the dark to clear the floodwaters, bringing several people to safety, television images from the town of Uthiel showed, while emergency services were still working to reach the worst-hit areas.

“To those who at this moment are still looking for their loved ones, all of Spain cries with you,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a televised address, promising to “restore your streets, your squares, your bridges.”

Carlos Mazon, regional head of Valencia, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of citrus production in the world’s leading orange producer, said some people remain isolated in hard-to-reach areas.

“If (emergency services) didn’t come, it’s not because of a lack of means or inclination, it’s because of an access problem,” Mason told a news conference, adding that it was “absolutely impossible” to reach certain areas.

At least 62 people died in Valencia, while authorities in the central Castilla-La Mancha region said the storm left two people dead and several missing.

Dozens of videos posted on social media overnight showed people trapped by floodwaters, with some climbing into trees to avoid being washed away. The footage shows rescue workers carrying several women into the bucket of a bulldozer.

Trains to the cities of Madrid and Barcelona were canceled due to the flooding, and schools and other essential services were suspended in the worst-hit areas, officials said.

The region’s emergency services urged citizens to avoid all road travel and to follow further official advice, and in some places a military unit specializing in rescue operations was deployed to assist local rescuers.

Some parts of the region, such as the cities of Turis, Chiva or Bunol, recorded more than 400 mm (15.75 inches) of rain, equivalent to the annual normal, prompting the state meteorological agency AEMET to declare a red alert on Tuesday.

When the rain subsided there, the alert level was downgraded to amber, but as the storm moved northeast, the regional weather service in Catalonia issued a red alert for the area around Barcelona, ​​warning of strong winds and hail.

THE WORST FLOOD IN SPAIN SINCE 1996

Europe’s flood death toll was the worst since 2021, when at least 185 people died in Germany.

It is Spain’s deadliest flood since 1996, when 87 people died near a town in the Pyrenees.

King Felipe said the country’s emergency services were doing everything they could to help and expressed his condolences “for the loss of many lives.”

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on X that Europe is ready to help. “What we are seeing in Spain is devastating,” she told X.

ASAJA, one of Spain’s largest farmers’ groups, said on Tuesday it expected significant damage to crops.

Spain is the world’s largest exporter of fresh and dried oranges, according to trade data provider Observatory of Economic Complexity, and Valencia accounts for about 60% of the country’s citrus production, according to the Valencian Institute for Agricultural Research.

Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent in Europe due to climate change. Meteorologists believe that the warming of the Mediterranean Sea, which increases the evaporation of water, plays a key role in increasing the torrential rains.

“Events of this type, which used to occur decades apart, are now becoming more frequent and their destructive power is increasing,” said Ernesto Rodríguez Camino, senior state meteorologist and member of the Spanish Meteorological Association.

(Reporting by Eva Manez, Emma Pinedo, David Latona and Inti Landauro; Writing by Charlie Devereaux; Editing by Andriy Halip and Helen Popper)