Flood in Spain: As much rain fell in one day as in a year

Valencia (Spanish) – At least 95 dead, hundreds missing, 150,000 people without electricity: after extreme rainfall and rivers overflowing their banks, the province of Valencia in Spain is experiencing what Germany went through in the Ahr Valley in 2021. The BILD reporters on site were treated to an apocalyptic sight: in some places, as much rain fell in just one day as usual in the entire year!

Flood of horror sweeps young doctor away – dead!

Cars piled on top of each other, flooded streets, full houses, devastated fields and orchards, collapsed bridges – it is pure chaos that is in the suburbs of the city of the same name, Valencia.

“Only the first floor of our house is in order,” says doctor Chiaro (62), who spent the whole day shoveling mud with her husband Antoni (64) from the ground floor of their house in the suburb of Paiporta.

▶︎ “When the alarm came, the water was already there. Too late! A young man on our street was swept away in his car and drowned,” explains Antoni in an interview with BILD.

The couple was just able to bring their most important belongings (papers, laptops, photos) upstairs. Such Floods has never existed here before, say he and his wife.

The weather service Aemet speaks of a “historic storm”, the worst of its kind this century in the Valencia region, which is popular with holidaymakers.

Customers had to wait in the shopping center for hours

A couple of parents and their three children walk exhausted along one of the muddy streets. They stayed with relatives. “Our house is at the back, where it is lower,” says the mother. “Our cars, motorcycles, everything is under water.”

The “Bonair” shopping center is located two kilometers from the airport, and customers were trapped here by the water for hours.

Fear of looters

Now, when it got dark on Wednesday, the looters are there. “Be careful, you better turn around,” says an officer from the Guardia Civil, the police force Spainto the BILD reporters. “It’s dangerous here, there are robbers here.”

The water did not reach the city center of Valencia with its high-rise buildings. A few people are sitting in tapas bars, drinking beer. All the hotels are full: flood refugees from the suburbs have been accommodated here.