Valencia still on alert: Very high risk of flooding

Spain's National Meteorological Agency declared a red alert on the coast of the Valencia region, two weeks after devastating floods in the southeast of the country. What could be the impacts of this new alert?

Valencia faces the onslaught of torrential rains

Just two weeks after the tragic floods that devastated southeastern Spain, the National Meteorological Agency has once again put the Valencia region on red alert. The coastline, already hard hit, is once again under the threat of torrential rains.

Red alert turned orange

“The worst of this second depression is over”announced the Aemet agency on the social network X, after a night of heavy precipitation. The red alert was then downgraded to orange, providing some relief to residents.

Exceptional security measures

Faced with this situation, exceptional security measures have been taken. Traffic restrictions have been put in place and classes suspended in more than a hundred municipalities. Only travel for “cases of force majeure” is authorized, said Carlos Mazón, the conservative president of the Valencia region.

In addition, rail traffic between Barcelona and Valencia has been suspended, and the re-operation of trains on the Madrid-Valencia line has been postponed, according to the Ministry of Transport. The president justified these measures as being intended to “ensure the safety of people”.

Impact on searches for missing persons

These new bad weather conditions have unfortunately disrupted search operations for the 17 people still missing. Rosa Tourís, spokesperson for Cecopi, Valencia's emergency committee, said: “Search searches at sea were compromised due to the maritime storm. After this meteorological episode, the tides will be evaluated again to determine the search areas. »

Faced with the situation, the authorities asked volunteers not to go to disaster areas, also setting up alerts on residents' phones.