Heavy downpours in eastern Spain caused a severe flash flood last week on Nov. 7, sweeping almost everything in its path. Spain’s Valencia region is the most affected, with its streets turning to rivers, cars being completely totaled, and disrupted rail lines and highways in what is now recorded as the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in quite some time.
A week later, police, firefighters, the military, and thousands of volunteers are still searching for missing persons. According to current reports, 220 people have been killed. People on the southern outskirts of Valencia continue to face shortages of basic necessities, and safe drinking water is still not available via pipe lines. Correspondence, on the other hand, has established improvised emergency kitchens on the debris-filled, muddy streets.
According to Spain’s Insurance Consortium, more than 20,000 people have filed claims for home insurance, 12,000 for commercial properties, and 44,000 for vehicles. These numbers are expected to rise as storms continue in Valencia and southern Malaga province.
Just yesterday, Valencia’s coastal areas were put on high alert, with projections predicting up to 7 inches of rain. Valencia is still cleaning up after the Oct. 29 storm, which caused tsunami-like flooding and major automobile pileups. Train service between Malaga and Madrid, as well as between Barcelona and Valencia, has been canceled. Schools and stores around the south province of Malaga have also closed.
Experts believe the storms are the result of climate change, as droughts and floods become more common each year, particularly given that these catastrophic weather events occurred after Spain experienced severe droughts between 2022 and 2023. The storms’ primary causes have been narrowed down to two effects of human-caused climate change. The first is that warm air retains heavy rain, and the second is shifts in the jet stream. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, these are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Thus, a cut-off low-pressure storm system that moved from an abnormally wavy and delayed jet stream is responsible for the immediate floods, according to climate scientists and meteorologists. Though this system is not new to Spain, In fact, the locals refer to it as an acronym: DANA’s.
The Valencian government continues to face criticism for failing to issue flood alerts until Tuesday at 8 p.m., when areas were already submerged. Additionally, Valencian officials have been more active in allocating resources because it appears that the storms have no intention of stopping. In what is currently known as Spain’s largest peacetime mobilization, the National Police and Civil Guard gendarmeries have mobilized throughout the region. In addition to the thousands of firefighters, the province’s residents and about 500 local police have been assisting with the distribution of essentials and the hunt for missing persons.
