Almost 160 dead already

Flood in Spain: “Were trapped like rats”

Numerous vacation resorts are now disaster areas and emergency services are still searching for survivors.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Jose Jordan)

Spain is experiencing the country's worst flood disaster since 1996, with almost 160 deaths. In just one day on Tuesday, as much rain fell in parts of Spain as normally falls in an entire year. The mayor of an affected town now describes the dramatic events.

Thousands of people are still missing and many more are in life-threatening situations. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity, numerous roads are closed, bridges have been destroyed and train services have been paralyzed. Pictures of numerous vehicles that have been turned into mountains of scrap metal by the masses of water are going around the world.

Mayor: "Worst day of my life"
"Cars and garbage containers simply flowed down the street," said Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel, describing the situation on Spanish television. "The water rose to three meters." Last Tuesday was the worst day of his life. "We were trapped like rats," he recalls of the hopeless situation.

Numerous vacation resorts are now disaster zones and emergency services are still searching for survivors.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Jose Jordan)

River overflowed in just a few minutes 
The river burst its banks within "three to four minutes", a resident of the village of L'Alcudia in the particularly hard-hit Valencia region told Spanish broadcaster TVE. "The whole landscape changed completely in a very short time." Countless roads turned into raging torrents in a flash.

The inhabitants of the region complain above all about the short preparation time for the disaster, although weather services had predicted the huge amounts of rain.

Were warnings too hesitant?
In fact, civil defense warnings went out to the cell phones of everyone in the Valencia region at around 8.10 p.m. on Tuesday, as the state radio station RTVE reconstructs. However, the civil defense warnings were not issued until the evening, when the first rivers had already burst their banks. Many people were traveling in their cars despite the storms and ran the risk of being stranded or swept away by the current.

However, the newspaper "El País" noted that it had already started raining hours earlier. And went on to write: "The weather service Aemet had already declared the highest warning level on Tuesday morning at around 7.30 a.m., which means very high danger.

Rainfall of biblical proportions
In some places, as much rain fell in one day as normally falls in a year - up to 400 liters per square meter in some places in the Valencia region, according to Aemet. Some stations even reported up to 600 liters of water. People, cars and trees, as well as infrastructure, were swept away in the floods. There was great devastation in many places. More precipitation fell in eight hours than during the most recent floods in Austria within five days.

The trigger of the disaster

The storms in Spain were triggered by the weather phenomenon "cold drop" (gota fría). It occurs frequently in the Spanish Mediterranean region in the months of September and October and is based on strongly fluctuating sea and air temperatures. The phenomenon occurs when the first Atlantic lows with cold, humid air push over the warm Mediterranean - this time, the phenomenon has increased significantly due to climate change.

Region previously complained about catastrophic drought
"People were actually very happy at first," Remedios, who owns a bar in Utiel in Valencia, Spain, recalls the hours before the flood of the century. The region had recently suffered from drought and water shortages, and the rain that started on Tuesday initially brought relief.

"But at 12 noon, the storm really hit us and we were all pretty scared," Remedios continues in an interview with the Guardian. The mood quickly changed when the bar owner and his customers realized the seriousness of the situation. A 73-year-old man told him that he had never experienced such a catastrophe in his entire life, Remedios reports on the flood.

Rescue workers in constant action
"The situation on the ground is dramatic," said Gerald Schöpfer, President of the Austrian Red Cross. "Hundreds of colleagues from the Spanish Red Cross are working around the clock to alleviate the consequences of the disaster for the people affected. The rescue teams are working non-stop to help the injured. It is now important to show solidarity and support the Red Cross in its important work."

No information yet about affected Austrians
The Austrian Foreign Ministry had no indication that any Austrians were affected by the disaster. "We currently have no information" about this, said a spokeswoman. "The Austrian embassy in Madrid is in contact with a handful of Austrian travelers who are currently in the regions affected by the storms in Spain. They are all safe and well." Those affected can contact the emergency number of the Foreign Ministry ([phone]) at any time.