by Red weather warnings have been issued and thousands evacuated due to a powerful storm that brought heavy rain and high winds to Spain just weeks after flash floods hit the country.
Spanish weather forecaster Aemet raised Valencia’s warning level to the maximum on Wednesday evening, after the region suffered its worst blow in extreme weather just two weeks ago.
The province joins Malaga in the Costa del Sol, which is already under a red weather warning, as Spain again grapples with rising flood waters after flash floods killed more than 200 people and destroyed homes.
In Malaga province, around 3,000 people living along the Guadalhorce River have been evacuated and the city’s main hospital is now restricting services to emergencies only. Pictures on social media show doctors wading through water flowing through the corridors of the ward.
The Costa del Sol, including popular tourist destinations such as Marbella, Estepona, and Vélez, is at the helm of the extreme weather phenomenon known as “Dana”, which will drop up to 7.1 inches of rain in some areas within hours.
Flood warnings extend across much of southern Spain, with meteorologists saying rivers could overflow and gusts of up to 74 miles per hour could make the situation worse.
Classes have been suspended in schools in Malaga, Valencia and several municipalities in Catalonia. Aemet warns of rain and storms that could be “very strong to torrential”.
Main points
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A weather alert in Valencia has been raised to red just weeks after deadly flash floods hit the region the hardest
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More hospitals were closed across the region
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The bodies of Spanish boys missing two weeks after flash floods have been found
A red weather warning for Tarragona has been lifted
18:19 , Tara Cobham
The red weather warning for Tarragona has been lifted, according to the Spanish weather forecaster.
Aemet announced this afternoon that because “the situation in the area has improved”, the warning that was supposed to be in place until 10pm has now been downgraded to the orange level.
A weather alert in Valencia has been raised to red just weeks after deadly flash floods hit the region the hardest
17:53 , Tara Cobham
The weather alert in Valencia was raised to red – the maximum level – just two weeks after the province was hit hardest by deadly flash floods.
Aemet, the Spanish weather forecaster, issued the fresh warning just after 6pm, local time, announcing that it will be in force today and tomorrow due to the rain.
Valencia joins Malaga and Tarragona, which are already under the maximum red alert level.
Train service between Valencia and Barcelona affected by the extreme weather
17:30 , Tara Cobham
The train service between Valencia and Barcelona is affected by the extreme weather, according to the manager of the Spanish railway network.
ADIF reported this afternoon that “the Valencia-Barcelona line between Castelló and Cambrils has been disrupted due to the weather conditions in the area”.
It is separated from the side of the line of Valencia-Barcelona into Castelló and Cambrils for the conditions meteorológicas de la zona.
— INFOAdif (@InfoAdif) November 13, 2024
Heavy rain also affected the Valencian Community
17:04 , Tara Cobham
Heavy rain is also weighing on the Valencian Community, according to the Spanish weather agency.
Aemet, the state meteorological agency, reported a rain gauge on a river in Traiguera, Castellón, recording 106 liters per square meter – more than half in the last hour.
“The severity is severe,” said the Valencian arm of the agency this afternoon.
In the pluviómetro de Traiguera de la @CHJucar located in the rio Sèrvol, it has registered 106.4 l/m2, more than the time limit. The intensity is torrent.
— AEMET_C. Valenciana (@AEMET_CValencia) November 13, 2024
The Benamargosa River partially bursts its banks
16:43 , Rachel Hagan
The Benamargosa river in the Axarquia region has partially burst its banks, El Pais said.
The river level has risen rapidly recently after the nearby Solano Dam, which normally protects the area, overflowed.
“We advise residents to stay indoors. In areas affected by flooding, please move to higher floors and avoid approaching the riverbed,” Benamargosa Town Hall announced around 4 pm.
The overflow affected many fields and several houses in the area.
All train services in Malaga were stopped
16:18 , Rachel Hagan
All train services in Malaga province, including the high-speed train between Madrid and Malaga, were halted and Malaga train station was evacuated due to flooding, national rail infrastructure operator Adif said.
Where are the red weather warnings in place?
15:58 , Rachel Hagan
At the time of writing, four red weather warnings are in place across the country in eastern Tarragona and the southern provinces of Malaga.
The warning says they can expect to receive as much as 7.1 inches per square meter of heavy or heavy rain within 12 hours, which could cause rivers to overflow and generate flooding.
The warnings are: – Sun and Guadalhorce, Malaga- Axarquia, Malaga – south coast Tarragona
Anger grows over the long lunch of the Valiant chief on the day of the floods
15:27 , Rachel Hagan
On the day catastrophic floods devastated Spain’s Valencia region, leaving around 220 people dead, the region’s chief executive was said to have had a long lunch until around 6pm, with water already flowing through the towns himself.
Public anger erupted on Saturday when 130,000 people took to the streets of Valencia and called for Mr Mazon’s resignation. Photographs of the protest showed signs saying: “You killed us”, and “Our hands are stained with mud, mine with blood.” Mr Mazon’s office confirmed he had lunch at a restaurant near the regional government headquarters in Valencia but declined to disclose. his dining companion. According to Spanish media, he did not leave the restaurant until 6pm, by which time the town of Utiel was already under water and the national weather service, Aemet, had issued a red alert. The emergency meeting of his government started an hour earlier, at 5pm.
Mr Mazon’s conservative party asked him to explain his moves. He promised to provide answers when he appears in parliament this week and said on Monday, according to EuroNews, that “mistakes could have been made.”
The bodies of Spanish boys missing two weeks after flash floods have been found
15:11 , Rachel Hagan
The bodies of two young brothers who went missing in floods that hit the eastern Spanish region of Valencia two weeks ago have been found, the Civil Guard confirmed on Wednesday.
Ruben and Izan Matias Calatayud, aged 3 and 5, were found in separate places near Catarroja, 6 miles downstream from their home in Torrent, a suburb of the city of Valencia, where they went missing when the floods hit at the end of October.
Their aunt Barbara Sastre told Spanish state TVE last week that the boys’ mother was working in Valencia and their father was with them in the family home when the flood hit.
“The three of them were pulled out,” she said. Their unnamed father tried to hold on to them, but they were swept away by the tide, state news agency EFE reported.
He survived by grabbing onto a tree, TVE added.
Sastre told TVE that the wait for the news had left the family “devastated”.
More hospitals were closed across the region
14:56 , Rachel Hagan
The Andalusian Government has announced that all health centers in the city of Malaga, Nerja, Torrox, Colmenar, Rincon de la Victoria will be closed that evening.
Others in Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Benalmádena will also be closed. Almost all centers in the province are already closed from 3pm.
The Regional Hospital, known as Carlos Haya, has also canceled all its scheduled evening activity.
All this is in addition to the floods that have affected the Virgen de la Victoria University Hospital in Malaga, where they are only providing care in A&E.
