At least 72 people die in devastating flash floods in eastern Spain: Officials

Barcelona: Flash floods in eastern Spain swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers, disrupted rail lines and highways and killed at least 72 people in the worst natural disaster to hit the European nation in recent memory.

Rainstorms that started Tuesday and continued Wednesday caused flooding in a wide swath of southern and eastern Spain, stretching from Malaga to Valencia. Muddy torrents tumbled vehicles down streets at high speeds, while pieces of wood swirled in the water alongside household items.

Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers stranded on the roofs of cars.

Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed a death toll of 70 people on Wednesday. Another two casualties were reported in the neighbouring Castilla La Mancha region. “Yesterday was the worst day of my life,” Ricardo Gabaldon, the mayor of Utiel, a town in Valencia, told national broadcaster RTVE on Wednesday. He said six residents of his town had perished and several more were unaccounted for.

“We were trapped like rats. Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 metres,” he said.

Searchers worked to find survivors and victims, with countless numbers still missing. Spain’s government said it would declare three days of mourning starting Thursday for those killed in the devastating flash floods.

“For those who are looking for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised address. “Our priority is to help you. We are putting all the resources necessary so that we can recover from this tragedy.” Over 1,600 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units were deployed to the devastated areas, and rescue personnel were traveling to affected areas from across the country. Spain’s central government set up a crisis committee to help coordinate rescue efforts. The elderly were the most vulnerable. RTVE broadcast footage of seniors in chairs and wheelchairs with waters rising over their knees at a nursing home, and a military unit rescuing an elderly couple from the top story of their house in the bucket of a bulldozer. Television reports showed videos shot by panicked residents documenting waters flooding the ground floors of apartment buildings, streams bursting their banks and bridges giving way. People gasped as they pointed to what they feared could be bodies bobbing in the swift brown flood.

Spain’s national weather service called the rainfall “extraordinary” in parts of Valencia. Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years. Nothing, however, compared to the devastation over the last two days, which recalls floods in Germany and Belgium in 2021 in which 230 people

were killed.