Deaths from serious floods in Spain rise to 95 – Diario La Página –

The death toll from the serious floods that mainly affect the southeast of Spain rose this Wednesday afternoon (10/30/2024) to 95, a figure that could increase because there are “many missing,” said the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel. Victor Torres. The damage caused by isolated depression at high levels (dana) is considerable.

“The updated figure is 92 people who died in the Valencian Community, two in Castilla-La Mancha and one more person in Andalusia, making a total of 95 people,” Torres told public television TVE, warning that “these are data provisional”, because “unfortunately everything suggests that this figure will increase”. Forty of the deaths occurred in the municipality of Paiporta, 10 kilometers from Valencia.

Valencia is the most critical region for emergency services, which continue to search for victims, with more than 70 roads – most of them secondary – cut off and isolated areas without telephone or electricity since the region was hit on Tuesday night by enormous rains that They caused floods, which turned the streets into true mighty rivers that swept away everything in their path.

“Extraordinary accumulations” of rain
The state meteorology agency Aemet recorded “extraordinary accumulations” of rain, with some municipalities receiving 445 liters of water per square meter in just a few hours, “practically what can rain in a full year,” as noted on the social network X ( Twitter). Meanwhile, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who will visit the affected area on Thursday, urged citizens not to let their guard down at a time when the emergency “continues.”

The Valencian airport returned to operation, while rail transport remained suspended or intermittently and the high-speed train between Madrid and Valencia will not operate again until next week, the authorities reported. “We reiterate the importance of not traveling by road” in the affected areas, insisted the president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón.

The government decreed three days of official mourning starting Thursday in response to the deadliest disaster due to bad weather that has been recorded in Spain in more than half a century, since October 1973, when 300 people died due to torrential rains that devastated several towns. in Murcia and Andalusia. Aemet, meanwhile, announced that the rains will continue until Thursday.