ELS POBLETS, Spain — Helicopters rescued residents stranded on rooftops as torrential rains from Storm Adam swept across eastern Spain on Monday, killing at least three people and leaving shelter-in-place orders in force for more than 80,000 residents.
The downpour cut off several towns along the Mediterranean coast as rivers burst their banks and streets turned into torrents, in scenes reminiscent of the catastrophic flooding that killed more than 230 people in the Valencia region two years ago, Reuters reported.
Members of Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit found the body of a woman in the town of Oliva during rescue operations on Monday, bringing the death toll to three, regional broadcaster A Punt reported, citing sources from the unit. Two other women were confirmed dead over the weekend: one whose body washed up on a beach in Sagunto, in the eastern region of Valencia, and another who was swept away by floodwaters in Cabrera de Mar, near Barcelona.
In Els Poblets, northeast of Alicante, cars and vans were piled on top of one another by the force of the water as residents tried to salvage what they could from their homes. “The village, well, it’s a disaster. Some people have lost everything all over again, just like in 2007, when exactly the same thing happened,” chef Javier Fornez, 49, told Reuters.
Record rainfall
Spain’s national weather agency AEMET said torrential rains linked to Storm Adam dumped exceptional amounts of rain across eastern Spain, with Pego, in Alicante province, recording 632 millimeters (25 inches) in 36 hours, while several locations in southern Valencia and northern Alicante exceeded 500 millimeters over the same period. About 2,000 people were evacuated from seven campsites in Oliva, and 145 municipalities were told to stay indoors, EU Today reported.
Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit deployed personnel from its base at Betera to assist local firefighters and rescue teams, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
Meteorologists say human-driven climate change makes such extreme weather events more frequent and destructive, Reuters reported.
This is a developing story. Zark News will update it as rescue operations continue.
Sources: Reuters; EU Today; EFE.
