I have lived in the Valencian Community for the last 11 years and been visiting since the mid 1980’s and felt it only right to post this very sad and moving article today.
(CNN) — Spain is reeling from its worst flooding in decades, after a year’s worth of rain fell in just hours this week in the country’s southern and eastern regions.
The storm began on Tuesday and has so far killed at least 155, according to authorities in the worst-hit region Valencia, while dozens more remain missing. It has also flooded towns and roads, caused rivers to burst their banks and left thousands without power or running water.
Valencia saw its heaviest rainfall in 28 years with people caught off guard and trapped in basements and lower floors of buildings.
Emergency workers are still fighting to rescue those who are trapped, with operations underway to recover bodies and clear debris.
Flooding was also reported in and around the cities of Murcia and Malaga with more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain falling in some areas. In Malaga, in the region of Andalusia on Spain’s southern coast, a 71-year-old British man died from hypothermia, the city’s mayor said.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered support, pledging his government would do all it could to help flood victims, as he urged people to remain vigilant.
The Spanish government has also decreed three days of official mourning, starting on Thursday.
What caused the disaster?
The torrential rain was likely caused by what Spanish meteorologists call a “gota fría,” or cold drop, which refers to a pool of cooler air high in the atmosphere that can separate from the jet stream, causing it to move slowly and often lead to high-impact rainfall. This phenomenon is most common in autumn.
Figuring out the precise role climate change played in Spain’s devastating floods will require further analysis, but scientists are clear that global warming, driven by fossil fuel pollution, makes these types of extreme rainfall events more likely and more intense.
Hotter oceans fuel stronger storms, and the Mediterranean hit its highest temperature on record in August. Warmer air is also able to hold more moisture, soaking it up like a sponge to wring out in the form of torrential rain.
The last comparable natural disaster was in 1996, when floods killed 87 people near the town of Biescas in the Pyrenees mountains.
While Spain has experienced significant autumn storms in recent years, nothing comes close to the devastation wrought over the past few days.
The disaster is on a similar level to flooding seen in Germany and Belgium in 2021 with 158 confirmed dead at the time of writing. A figure which sadly is expected to rise over the coming hours., which killed more than 230 people.
Made somewhat more poignant by todays National Holiday.
Dia de Todos los Santos
All Saints Day in Spain (Todos Los Santos) takes place today (Fri). It is a very important national public holiday when people from all over the country return to their town or village to lay flowers on the graves of deceased relatives. There are few religious days that mean quite so much to the ordinary people of Spain as this solemn festival.
The Spanish consider themselves fortunate in having two birthdays each year, rather like the British queen. They have their customary birthday to commemorate the day they were born but they also celebrate on the day of their personal patron saint. For most people their patron saint will be the one after whom they were named.
However, on November 1st each year, the Feast of All of the Saints is held and this particular public holiday centres around remembering dead family members. Most people will visit the graves of relatives and decorate them with elaborate floral displays. Roads around cemeteries will be crammed with traffic, flower sellers line the streets, and, in many places, additional public transport services are organised. Although this might sound over-commercialised and hectic it is actually, for most people, a day of high emotions. The Eucharist, or Mass, will often be performed in the cemetery several times during the day.
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