Malaga, Tarragona and Valencia on red alert for new torrential rains, two weeks after deadly floods

This new meteorological episode revives the fears of the victims. New torrential rains fell on Wednesday, November 13, in the south and east of Spain, two weeks after an exceptional Mediterranean storm caused the deadliest floods in Spain in decades. This meteorological phenomenon, which occurred on October 29, caused 223 deaths, most of them in the Valencia region, according to the latest official report.

The national meteorological agency, Aemet, has issued a “red alert” for “extreme danger”i.e. the maximum level, in the provinces of Malaga (South) and Tarragona (North-East), due to this new “cold drop”, an isolated depression at high altitude quite common in autumn on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

In Malaga, where several roads were flooded, the metro was closed, the train line to Madrid was suspended and flights were diverted. The municipality evacuated nearly 3,000 people “preventively”.

“Today, Malaga is paralyzed”declared the president of the Andalusia region, Juan Manuel Moreno, during a trip to Seville. “Prevention is better than cure, we saw it in Valencia”the priority being to “minimize the impact in terms of loss of human life”insisted the president of the region.

Shortly after, the Spanish meteorological agency also placed the coastline near Valencia in “red alert” for the rains. “The danger is extreme. Avoid travel. River overflows and flooding may occur »she warned. The alert is activated from 9 p.m. local until Thursday noon. In areas placed on red alert, located on the coast, nearly 120 to 180 liters of precipitation per square meter (120 to 180 millimeters) could accumulate over the next few hours, according to the agency. The precipitation will last until Thursday.

“We have already lost our cars, we have already lost a large part of our homes and we don't have a job either. So we have nothing left to lose.”lamented Carlos Molto, a resident of Picanya, a municipality of 11,000 inhabitants located in the suburbs of Valencia, near the regional television channel A Punt.

The neighboring municipality of Paiporta, considered the epicenter of the tragedy of October 29, for its part suffered new floods, according to the newspaper The Provinces. In this town, which is still devastated, residents have set up makeshift barricades with bags of earth in front of the doors of houses.

As a precaution, several municipalities in the region have asked the thousands of volunteers who come every day to help residents clear the streets, not to go to the disaster areas on Wednesday.

Alert messages

In Andalusia and Catalonia, where there are two provinces placed on red alert (Malaga and Tarragona), the authorities anticipated the possible consequences of heavy rains by sending alert messages to cell phones, the reception of which causes a strong signal sound. “Be very careful, avoid traveling and follow the advice” emergency services, reports the message sent to Malaga.

Military vehicles drove through some towns in the Valencia region to warn residents by megaphone about expected storms, urging them to avoid making “unnecessary travel”according to images broadcast by public television TVE.

The red alert issued by Aemet, corresponding to meteorological phenomena “of exceptional intensity” presenting “a very high level of risk for the population”also led the authorities to suspend classes on Wednesday in part of Catalonia and in Andalusian cities such as Granada and Malaga. Schools in towns recently affected by flooding in the east of the country are therefore closed on Wednesday.

In the Valencia region, dozens of municipalities, including Chiva, one of the worst affected, have also closed gyms due to the threat of further torrential rains. “In accordance with information provided by emergency services, school and sports activities will be suspended from tomorrow [mercredi] and until further notice »announced the town hall on X.

Continuing research

The new rains could disrupt the search for the 17 people still missing, according to authorities. Operations are mainly concentrated around watercourses and on the coast, at river mouths.

Valencia authorities were heavily criticized for sending this warning message late on October 29: Aemet had placed the region on red alert in the morning, but many residents of the area were already underwater when the message has been transmitted.

Indignation against the authorities, accused of having poorly assessed the risks and of having delayed too long in the deployment of relief, gave rise to massive demonstrations on Saturday, the largest of which brought together 130,000 people in the city ​​of Valencia.

In this city, bad weather also led to the postponement to Friday of a match between Spain and Poland as part of the Billie Jean King Cup in women's tennis, which was to be played on Wednesday afternoon. In the Valencia region, this new “cold drop” caused waves of more than 4 meters on the coast, and convinced the authorities to close certain roads and train lines. Maritime traffic was also suspended in the ports of Valencia and Sagunto.