Residents in Majorca are bracing for the worst today after Spain‘s national weather service warned the brutal weather system that triggered mass floods and killed nearly 160 people in Valencia was headed for the island.
The national weather service Aemet declared that parts of Majorca could be battered with up to 120mm of water in just three to four hours – meaning 120 litres of water per square metre.
To put that figure into context, the UK recorded an average rainfall of 1,290mm in the entire year of 2023 – a tenth of that annual amount could now hit parts of Majorca in a matter of hours.
Officials in Palma – the Majorcan capital that is set to face the brunt of the storm – have instituted serious whether warnings that come into force from 10am local time today and will last through the weekend, with many public spaces closed down.
It comes as rescue crews in Valencia continue their searches for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings as bewildered residents salvage what they can from their ruined homes.
The monstrous flash floods on Tuesday have claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone.
An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found.
Residents in Majorca are bracing for the worst today after Spain ‘s national weather service warned the brutal weather system that triggered mass floods and killed nearly 160 people in Valencia was headed for the island
The national weather service Aemet declared that parts of Majorca could be battered with up to 120mm of water in just three to four hours – meaning 120 litres of water per square metre (the city of Palma is pictured)
A vehicle from Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) cleans up destroyed cars on a highway, in the aftermath of floods, in Torrent, near Valencia, Spain, November 1, 2024
A view of the disaster zone as search and rescue efforts and aid delivery process continue in Paiporta zero area of flood after catastrophic flash floods due to heavy rain in Valencia, Spain on October 31, 2024
A woman looks at the damage after catastrophic flash floods due to heavy rain in Sedavi district of Valencia, Spain on October 31, 2024
People walk by cars and trucks that were among the debris swept up in recent flash flooding along the V-31 highway near the municipality of Massanassa on November 1, 2024 on the outskirts of Valencia
Residents begin the laborious process of cleaning their homes after the brutal flooding
A view of the disaster zone as search and rescue efforts and aid delivery process continue in Paiporta
The Spanish Government has called for three days of mourning
A drone view shows a broken bridge in Cheste, Valencia, Spain, October 31, 2024
A view of damaged cars and devastation in Sedavi, Valencia, Spain on October 31, 2024
This map released by Spain’s Aemet national weather service released a map showing how rains battered much of south eastern Spain. The weather system responsible is now headed for Majorca
More horrors emerged on Thursday from the debris and ubiquitous layers of mud left by the walls of water that produced Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory.
The damage from the storm late Tuesday and early Wednesday recalled the aftermath of a tsunami, with survivors left to pick up the pieces as they mourn their loved ones.
Cars were piled on one another like fallen dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items all mired in mud that covered streets in dozens of communities in Valencia, a region south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.
‘Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,’ Spain’s Transport Minister Oscar Puente said early on Thursday before the death toll spiked from 95 on Wednesday night.
Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in its path.
The floods demolished bridges and left roads unrecognisable.
Luis Sanchez, a welder, said he saved several people who were trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of Valencia city.
The road rapidly became a floating graveyard strewn with hundreds of vehicles.
‘I saw bodies floating past. I called out, but nothing,’ Mr Sanchez said.
‘The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people.
‘People were crying all over, they were trapped.’
Regional authorities said late Wednesday that rescuers in helicopters saved some 70 people stranded on rooftops and in cars, but ground crews were far from done.
‘We are searching house by house,’ Angel Martinez, one of 1,000 soldiers helping with rescue efforts told Spain’s national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.
A journalist saw rescuers remove seven body bags from an underground garage in Barrio de la Torre.
‘Our priority is to find the victims and the missing so we can help end the suffering of their families,’ Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said after meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday, the first of three official days of mourning.
Scientists explained how deluge began after cold and warm air clashed to produce powerful rain clouds.
The phenomenon is known locally as DANA, a Spanish acronym for high-altitude isolated depression, and unlike common storms or squalls it can form independently of polar or subtropical jet streams.
When cold air blows over warm Mediterranean waters it causes hotter air to rise quickly and form towering, dense, water-laden clouds that can remain over the same area for many hours, raising their destructive potential.
The event sometimes provokes large hail storms and tornadoes, as seen this week, meteorologists say.
Eastern and Southern Spain are particularly susceptible to the phenomenon due to its position between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Warm, humid air masses and cold fronts meet in a region where mountains favour the formation of storm clouds and rainfall.
The country has also suffered through an almost two-year drought, meaning that when the deluge happened, the ground was so hard that it could not absorb the rain, worsening the effect of the flash floods.
People walk by cars and trucks that were among the debris swept up in recent flash flooding along the V-31 highway near the municipality of Massanassa on November 1, 2024 on the outskirts of Valencia
A woman looks out from her balcony as vehicles are trapped in the street during flooding in Valencia, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024
A view of damaged cars and devastation in Sedavi, Valencia, Spain on October 31, 2024
A handout satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows a damaged section of the CV33 highway after torrential rains in Spain’s eastern province of Valencia, 31 October 2024
A woman looks at a mud-covered road and damaged houses in the flood-hit municipality of Chiva, near Valencia, Spain, 31 October 2024
Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024
A man looks from his window at piled cars after heavy rains in Sedavi, in Valencia, Spain, October 31, 2024
A view of the disaster zone as search and rescue efforts and aid delivery process continue in Paiporta zero area of flood after catastrophic flash floods due to heavy rain in Valencia, Spain on October 31, 2024
The violent weather event surprised regional government officials.
Spain’s national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian town of Chiva than it had in the preceding 20 months.
A man wept as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his home in Catarroja, south of Valencia.
It looked as though a bomb had detonated inside, obliterating furniture and belongings, and stripping the paint off some walls.
In Paiporta, mayor Maribel Albalat said Thursday that at least 62 people had perished in the community of 25,000 next to Valencia city.
‘(Paiporta) never has floods, we never have this kind of problem.
‘And we found a lot of elderly people in the town centre,’ Ms Albalat told RTVE.
‘There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages … it was a real trap.’
While the most suffering was inflicted on municipalities near the city of Valencia, the storms unleashed their fury over huge swathes of the south and eastern coast of the Iberian peninsula.
Two fatalities were confirmed in the neighbouring Castilla La Mancha region and one in southern Andalusia.
Greenhouses and farms across southern Spain, known as Europe’s garden for its exported produce, were also ruined by heavy rains and flooding.
The storms spawned a freak tornado in Valencia and a hail storm that punched holes in cars in Andalusia.
Homes were left without water as far southwest as Malaga in Andalusia.
Heavy rains continued Thursday further north as the Spanish weather agency issued alerts for several counties in Castellon, in the eastern Valencia region, and for Tarragona in Catalonia, as well as southwest Cadiz.
‘This storm front is still with us,’ the prime minister said.
‘Stay home and heed the official recommendation and you will help save lives.’
A man stands among flooded cars piled up in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024
People stand next to stranded cars, following floods in Valencia, Spain, October 31, 2024
Pedestrians stand next to piled up cars following deadly floods in Sedavi, south of Valencia, eastern Spain, on October 30, 2024
Workers try to restore power to the residents of the flood-hit city of Torrent, province of Valencia, Spain, 31 October 2024
AFTER: Satellite image shows severe flooding in Valencia on October 30 after heavy rains
Paiporta bridge in the town of the same name was left completely devastated as the river beneath burst its banks and continued to rise, battering the buttresses until the concrete structure crumbled into the deluge
The bridge completely folded into the river and was washed away
As the shock dissipated, anger grew over the authorities’ handling of the crisis, both for their late warnings of the looming floods and the chaotic relief response.
Many survivors had to walk long distances in sticky mud to find food and water.
Most of their cars had been destroyed and the mud, destruction and debris left by the storm made some roads unpassable.
Some pushed shopping carts along sodden streets while others carried their children to keep them out of the muck.
Some 150,000 people in Valencia were without electricity on Wednesday, but roughly half had power by Thursday.
An unknown number did not have running water and were relying on whatever bottled water they could find.
The region remained partly isolated with several roads cut off and train lines interrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid.
Officials said it would take two to three weeks to repair that damaged line.
And with emergency personnel focused on recovering the dead, survivors were left to find basic supplies and clean up the mess.
Volunteers joined locals in moving wrecked vehicles, removing junk and sweeping mud.
Mud is seen covering the floor and items in a supermarket affected by floods in Valencia
A man is seen trudging through a muddy aisle in a supermarket after the floods in Spain
With local services clearly overwhelmed, Valencia regional President Carlos Mazon on Thursday asked if Spain’s army could assist with distributing basic goods to the population.
The government in Madrid responded by promising to send in 500 more soldiers, more national police and Civil Guards.
But necessity – and the post-apocalyptic atmosphere – prompted some to enter abandoned stores.
The National Police arrested 39 people for looting on Wednesday.
The Civil Guard said it detained 11 people for thefts in shopping malls, while its officers were also deployed to stop people stealing from cars.
Some people said they had to steal supplies, especially those who have no running water or a way to get to stores that were not wrecked.
‘We are not thieves. I work as a cleaner at the school for the council. But we have to eat. Look at what I’m picking up: baby food for the baby,’ said Nieves Vargas in a local supermarket whose doors had been tossed aside by the water and was unattended by staff.
‘What can I give to the child, if we don’t have electricity.’