Warnings to British tourists after 232-year deaths have been hit for nearly six months after being flooded in Valencia
Spain suffered a strange storm, with huge hail and flooding leaving Valencia towns in less than six months, suffering catastrophic flooding, killing more than 230 people.
British holidaymakers were warned not to travel yesterday in an orange weather warning that AEMET said “significant danger” in the most popular area of eastern Spain.
When Valencians usually hover in the daytime temperatures at about 20 degrees Celsius for a month, hail and flooding caused give way to the chaotic scene.
Almost unreliable footage shows how vehicles were damaged by hail as the ice fell into trouble, and in the Villar del Arzobispo was a few inches thick, the residents could do nothing.
Other shocking clips circulating on social media show that flooding, passing through the typical sunny streets of Guadass Equesses and L’Olleria.
Sudden storms swept the area’s residents, many of whom lost their livelihoods in a historic “negative” in October 2024, triggering huge floods that killed 232 people.
The authorities were inadequate in emergency preparations, communication and responses to weather phenomena last year – the Spanish acronym Depresión Aisladaen Niveles altos mentioned – the remaining millions were disillusioned.
Hail and the flood caused give way to the chaotic scenes, as Valencians usually hover over a month’s time of temperatures at about 20 degrees Celsius for a month
Almost unreliable footage shows how vehicles are damaged by hail as the ice falls into trouble
Sudden storms swept the area’s residents, many of whom lost their livelihoods in a historic “negative” that occurred in October 2024
Yesterday’s mountain flood also occurred several hours after a historic power outage, days after a few days without electricity.
Valencians planned a massive demonstration last week, demanding that regional president Carlos Mazon resign, but were cancelled due to power outages.
About one-third of Spain is still under yellow or orange weather warnings on weekends and warns of “very strong storms, with heavy hail and strong winds gusts on Saturday in the northern and eastern peninsula.
The agency said the highly irregular conditions were a sign of the “cylonic Supercell storm,” a weather event that brought severe thunderstorms and hail.
It added that the storm was “exceptionally scattered, to the southeastern and easter relative to the movement of other storms that moved near them.”
The dangerous situation in Spain is a symptom of a broader trend in Europe, the most extensive flooding last year since 2013.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization said in a joint report on the European Meteorological Organization last month that floods killed at least 335 people in Europe in 2024, many of whom caused more than 410,000 people in Spain.
Western Europe has hit the hardest, with 2024 records dating back to 1950 in the region’s wettest years in the decade.
A firefighter searched for victims on November 3, 2024 in a half burn of a car on a river bank in Paiporta, Spain’s Valencia region.
Spanish troops began cleaning work on November 3, 2024 in the Spanish town of Paiporta, Valencia, Spain
Storms and floods are the most expensive extreme weather in Europe, causing losses of more than 18 billion euros last year.
Globally, 2024 is also the warmest year in the world since the beginning of the record, and the warmest year in Europe, the fastest continent on Earth.
Now, the Earth is higher than 1.3 degrees Celsius in pre-industrial times, mainly due to human-induced climate change.
South-East Europe has the longest heat waves, totaling 13 days, while glaciers in Scandinavia shrink at the highest recorded rate, increasing heat stress across the continent.
Most of Eastern Europe lacks rainfall and drought, while floods damage Western Europe.
Nearly one-third of the total river network in Europe exceeded the “high” flood threshold, while 12% of flooding suffered “severe” flood levels in 2024.
In September, Storm Boris dumped the largest rainfall ever recorded in Central Europe to countries including Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia.
