At least 95 people have been killed and many others are missing after torrential rain caused flash flooding in southern and eastern Spain, local authorities said Wednesday.
The toll, which makes it Spain's worst natural disaster in almost 30 years, was confirmed by emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia, which said it was only an initial assessment.
Authorities had advised people to stay at home and avoid nonessential travel as heavy rain poured onto the worst-affected towns, sweeping away cars and disrupting public transportation.
Videos shared on social media showed streets submerged in a sea of mud-colored water and dramatic rescues by emergency services, including the rescue of a woman and her pets who were airlifted to safety from a home battered by fierce winds and floods.
“For those who at this moment are still looking for their loved ones, the whole of Spain weeps with you,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised address.
“To the villages and cities destroyed by this tragedy, I say the same: Together, we will rebuild your streets, your squares, your bridges,” he said.
Spain’s state weather agency, AEMET, declared a red alert in Valencia, with some areas recording nearly 8 inches of rain that turned roads into rivers and disrupted highways and railway lines.
The last time so many people in Spain died from flooding was in 1996, when 87 people died in a town near the Pyrenees mountains.
The town of Chiva, near Valencia, got more than 19 inches of rain — a year’s worth — in just eight hours Tuesday, according to the BBC.
The regional leader of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, said at a news conference that some people remained stranded in inaccessible locations. Police and rescue services were using helicopters to lift people to safety from their homes and cars.
More than 1,000 soldiers from the country's emergency response units had been deployed to the devastated areas.
“Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” said Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of the town of Utiel near Valencia. He told national broadcaster RTVE that several people were still missing in his town.
“We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 meters,” Gabaldón said.
While the rain had subsided in Valencia by late Wednesday morning, Spain's national weather service forecast more storms through Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years, but nothing on the scale of this week’s destruction. It is still recovering from a severe drought earlier this year.
ASAJA, one of Spain’s largest farmers groups, said Tuesday it expected significant damage to crops.
The death toll is the worst in Europe since 2021, when 185 people were killed in Germany after heavy rain.
Scientists say increased episodes of extreme weather are most likely linked to climate change.
