Seven other people went missing in Albacete province, further inland from Valencia. Letur village was most affected. Video footage shows how the water left a trail of destruction there. The debris is everywhere.
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The damage elsewhere was also enormous. A pedestrian bridge in Picanya, a suburb of the regional capital Valencia, was swept away by flooding due to rain on Tuesday evening. Another image from Picanya shows a woman being swept away by high, murky waters. Residents could do nothing but watch helplessly from their balconies.
According to preliminary calculations by local emergency services, 62 people were killed. One death also occurred in the Castile-La Mancha region.
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The Spanish royal family said in a statement that they were ‘deeply saddened’ by the high number of deaths. “Our deepest condolences go out to the families and loved ones of the more than fifty victims.” King Felipe VI’s family also thanked the emergency services for ‘the great work they have done from the first moment’.
Thousands of travelers were stranded
Emergency services also advised Valencians not to travel on Wednesday. ‘Don’t put yourself in danger. Even though it doesn’t rain, water still accumulates in many areas.’ Most highways were flooded or closed. To urge residents not to travel, the department again sent an alarm signal to telephones on Wednesday morning, which woke several residents from their sleep.
Train passengers were also stranded. There are no trains operating in the region, or between Valencia and Madrid and Barcelona, the two most important cities in the country. This means that thousands of travelers will be trapped for a while. It is unclear when rail traffic will resume. This may not happen before Thursday, said an employee of the Iryo railway company.
Air traffic resumed on Wednesday, after 49 previous flights were cancelled. Thirty other flights had to be diverted to Alicante airport further south.
The bad weather began Monday evening in the southeastern province of Almeria. In the city of El Ejído, hailstones the size of golf balls fell from the sky. More than a hundred vehicles and several houses were damaged. Many greenhouses, which can be seen everywhere in this agriculture-focused province, were also destroyed by the giant hailstorm.
Extreme weather is now occurring more frequently
The result of extreme rainfall cold decline or cold drops, weather phenomena that more frequently affect the southeastern part of Spain. In gota fria, warm air from the Mediterranean Sea collides with cold air from the Atlantic Ocean. This usually occurs in spring or autumn, when temperatures change. The impact is heavy rain and storms.
Even though residents in the area are used to extreme weather, this year’s Gota Fria is the worst in this century. At least 45 centimeters of rain fell in Chiva, a village east of the city of Valencia.
The deadliest cave fria in history so far occurred in 1957. At that time, according to official figures, at least 81 people died, although the actual number is probably much higher. The flood caused the Turia river to be diverted so that it no longer flows through Valencia city center. This decision limited damage to the regional capital during this new disaster.