INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
At least 95 people have been killed in possibly the deadliest flooding to hit Spain in its modern history after torrential rain battered the
eastern region of Valencia, sweeping away bridges and buildings, local authorities said on Wednesday.Meteorologists said a year&s worth of
rain had fallen in eight hours in parts of Valencia on Tuesday, causing pile-ups on highways and submerging farmland in a region that
produces two-thirds of the citrus fruit grown in Spain, a leading global exporter.Residents in the worst-hit places described seeing people
clambering onto the roofs of their cars as a churning tide of brown water gushed through the streets, uprooting trees and dragging away
chunks of masonry from buildings.&It&s a river that came through,& said Denis Hlavaty, who waited for rescue on a ledge in the petrol
station where he works in the regional capital
&The doors were torn away and I spent the night there, surrounded by water that was 2 metres (6.5-feet) deep.&Footage shot by emergency
services from a helicopter showed bridges that had collapsed and cars and trucks piled on top of each other on highways between flooded
fields outside the city of Valencia.Trains to the cities of Madrid and Barcelona were cancelled due to the flooding, and schools and other
essential services were suspended in the worst-hit areas, officials said.Power company i-DE, owned by Europe&s biggest utility, Iberdrola,
said about 150,000 clients in Valencia had no electricity.Emergency services in the region urged citizens to avoid all road travel and to
follow further official advice.Some parts of Valencia area such as the towns of Turis, Chiva or Bunol recorded more than 400 mm (15-3/4
inches) of rainfall, leading the state weather agency AEMET to declare a red alert on Tuesday
It was lowered to amber on Wednesday as the rain eased.There was also flooding in other parts of the country, including the southern region
of Andalusia, and forecasters warned of more bad weather ahead as the storm moved in a northeasterly direction.&(The floodwaters) took away
lots of dogs, lots of horses, they took away everything,& said Antonio Carmona, a construction worker and resident of Alora in Andalusia.The
death toll, which includes three people in other regions, appeared to be the worst in Europe from flooding since 2021 when at least 185
It is possibly Spain&s worst in its modern history as the number of victims surpassed 87 people killed in a 1996 flood near the town of
Biescas in the Pyrenees mountains.In 1957, dozens of people died in floods in the city of Valencia which led to the construction of a new
course of the Turia river to prevent floods in the city centre.Andalusia&s regional leader, Juanma Moreno, said a 71-year-old British man
had died in hospital of heart failure after being rescued from his flooded home in Malaga while suffering from hypothermia.European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X that Europe was ready to help
&What we&re seeing in Spain is devastating,& she said on X.ASAJA, one of Spain&s largest farmer groups, said on Tuesday it expected
significant damage to crops.Spain is the world&s largest exporter of fresh and dried oranges, according to trade data provider the
Observatory of Economic Complexity, and Valencia accounts for about 60% of the country&s citrus production, according to Valencian Institute
of Agriculture Investigations.Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent due to climate change
Meteorologists think the warming of the Mediterranean, which increases water evaporation, plays a key role in making torrential rains more
severe.&Events of this type, which used to occur many decades apart, are now becoming more frequent and their destructive capacity is
greater,& said Ernesto Rodriguez Camino, senior state meteorologist and a member of the Spanish Meteorological Association.The post Spanish
floods kill 95 as year of rain falls in a day in Valencia first appeared on Ariana News.
