Valencia Hit by a Year’s Worth of Rain in Hours, Making it Spain’s Deadliest Flood in Decades

Spain is facing its worst flooding disaster in decades, with at least 95 lives lost in what may be the deadliest flood in the nation’s modern history. Torrential rainfall struck the eastern region of Valencia on Tuesday, triggering severe flash floods that swept away bridges and buildings, forcing people to seek refuge on rooftops and cling to trees to survive.

Meteorologists reported that parts of Valencia received a year’s worth of rain within just eight hours, causing massive highway pileups and submerging vast areas of farmland. In southern and eastern Spain, several locations recorded up to 12 inches of rain in mere hours, marking the heaviest rainfall Valencia has seen in 28 years, according to state weather agency AEMET.

In the hardest-hit areas, residents described scenes of chaos, with people climbing onto the roofs of their cars as torrents of muddy water surged through the streets, uprooting trees and tearing chunks of masonry from buildings. Approximately 1,200 people remain stranded on a major highway in Valencia, with around 5,000 vehicles blocked by rising floodwaters, as Spain’s Guardia Civil reported.

The town of Chiva, near Valencia, was particularly affected, with more than 19 inches of rain falling within a few hours on Tuesday. To help in rescue and recovery efforts, over 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units have been deployed to the devastated areas.

Torrential Rain Triggers Devastating Floods in Spain’s Valencia: Actionable Analytics on EigenPrism

ICEYE

Subscribers of ICEYE can use this footprint on EigenPrism® to quickly assess the impact of flood inundation:

Flash Flood – Valencia, Spain-Flood Inundation footprint by ICEYE as of Oct 30, 2024

Forecast

All EigenPrism® users can assess the flood forecast released by Adiabat, using this footprint within EigenPrism®:

EUR 5-day Flood Potential as of Oct 30, 2024

 

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