Coastal areas have been put on red alert for further heavy rain to come, two weeks after deadly floods hit southeastern Spain, killing 223 people.
“. Stream overflows and floods may occur,” Aemet stressed. The red alert was activated yesterday Wednesday at 21:00 (local time, 22:00 Greek time) and will be valid until today at 12:00 (13:00 Greek time).
According to Aemet, up to 180mm of rain could fall within 12 hours in the coastal areas of Valencia. For this reason the authorities have announced travel restrictions while school classes have been suspended for today in more than 100 communities.
Flooding in Oliva, Valencia, Spain
November 14, 2024— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI)
Emergency measures in Valencia
Movements are only allowed in cases of “force majeure”, the head of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazon, stressed to X and the chaotic management of previous floods. These measures are “emergency” and aim to “guarantee the safety of citizens”, he explained.
Due to torrential rain, train services between Barcelona and Valencia have been suspended, while the scheduled resumption of services between Madrid and Valencia this morning has been postponed, the Spanish Transport Ministry announced.
The red alert means that “extremely intense” weather events are expected, which pose a “very high level of risk to citizens,” Aemet explained.
A yellow danger level has been indicated in the east and south of the country, and a red one in the Valencia district.
— Arbeitspause_1.0 (@Arbeitspause1)
Malaga was paralyzed
Due to this new ‘cold drop’ – an isolated high-altitude low barometric phenomenon quite common in autumn on the Mediterranean coast of Spain – Aemet also put Malaga in the Andalucia region on red alert until 09:00 this morning.
“Today Málaga is paralyzed,” Andalusian regional president Juan Manuel Morena said during a visit to Seville. “Prevention is better than cure, we saw it in Valencia,” he stressed.
Many roads in Seville have been flooded, the metro has been suspended, many flights have been canceled or diverted to other airports and the rail link to Madrid has been disrupted. More than 4,200 people have been removed from their homes for “precautionary” reasons.
In the meantime the red alert issued yesterday for the region of Tarragona (in Catalonia) has been reduced to orange.
“Rain” the warning messages
In Paiporta, the epicenter of the October 29 tragedy, residents had created improvised dikes since yesterday Wednesday, fearing that the sewers, which are still full of mud, will overflow.
For precautionary reasons, many communities in the region asked the thousands of volunteers who go every day to help residents open the roads, not to go to the affected areas yesterday.
Several warning messages were sent to the mobile phones of residents in areas where heavy rain is expected yesterday, after Valencia authorities were criticized for being late in sending similar messages on October 29.
Torrential rains have hit Spain again
— The Pied Piper (@Rattenfangernet)
Source: APE-MPE, AFP
