Recent satellite imagery of Spain’s Valencia region reveals the extent of the devastation caused by the recent flooding.The visuals, captured by commercial earth imaging provider Planet Labs, were taken following Tuesday’s massive storm, which deluged the southeast of Spain with a year’s worth of rainfall in just a few hours.
As of now, at least 211 fatalities have been confirmed, marking this flooding as one of the worst natural disasters in Spain’s history and the deadliest flood in Europe since the 1970s.
In response, thousands of soldiers have been deployed to search for the missing and assist survivors.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated that his government is mobilizing “all necessary resources, as long as they are needed” to address the aftermath.
On Monday, he visited the national meteorological office in Madrid, appearing to show solidarity with the agency that has faced criticism regarding the timing of its warnings.
The meteorological office has indicated that further significant rainfall is expected in parts of southern Spain from Saturday into Sunday.
Over the past two years, Spain has been experiencing a drought. As a result, when the heavy rains fell, the ground was too hard to absorb the water, triggering flash floods.
We need your consent to load this flourish content. We use flourish to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences
The floodwaters surged through large sections of Valencia city, located on the coast, transporting silt and mud from the surrounding agricultural land to the west.
With approximately 75,000 homes still without power, firefighters have been siphoning gasoline from vehicles abandoned in the floods to fuel generators and restore domestic electricity supplies.
We need your consent to load this flourish content. We use flourish to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences
Further south of Valencia, images from Planet Labs depict coastal wetlands inundated with sediment-rich floodwaters.
