The regions of Murcia, Valencia and Andalusia have been particularly hard hit. In the city of Cartagena in Murcia, cars were up to their roofs in water.
In some places in the Valencia region, more rain fell in a few days than in the past six months, the national weather agency reported. The city of Ontinyent broke the record for most rainfall in a single day in May in the last hundred years, with up to 130 liters per square meter.
The extreme rainfall could help mitigate the effects of the prolonged drought that has plagued Spain. The country was on track to record its driest spring since records began in 1961. Between October 2022 and May 21 of this year, there was an average of a quarter less precipitation than in the previous period.
