At least four people have been killed and hundreds rescued after Storm Adam unleashed torrential rainfall across eastern Spain, triggering severe flooding, evacuations and shelter-in-place orders for tens of thousands of residents.
The storm, which began on Saturday, dumped as much as 700 litres of rain per square metre in 24 hours in some areas of the Valencia region. Floodwaters swept away cars, submerged roads and isolated several towns along the Mediterranean coast. Rivers burst their banks and streets turned into torrents.
The four confirmed deaths occurred across two regions. Two bodies were recovered in the coastal town of Oliva: a 79-year-old woman found at her home and a man who died of a heart attack at a campsite. A third victim drowned while swimming at a beach in Sagunto. A fourth, a woman, died after falling into a rain-swollen stream in Catalonia.
On Monday morning, 800,000 residents were under shelter-in-place orders. By late afternoon, that figure had been reduced to 87,000 across eight municipalities. Authorities ordered around 100 municipalities to remain indoors for several hours, with most restrictions lifted by early afternoon as conditions improved.
Emergency services carried out more than 400 rescues in the Valencia region, according to government representative Pilar Bernabe. Some sources put the total number of people rescued at more than 450. People stranded on rooftops were winched to safety, while others were brought to safety by boat or airlifted from flooded buildings and vehicles. More than 2,000 people were evacuated, mainly in Oliva.
The mayor of Pego, Enrique Moll, said on Monday that several people were still waiting to be evacuated by helicopter from their rooftops, with all access routes to the town blocked. The deputy mayor of Oliva, Salvador Llopis, said emergency services were rescuing trapped residents, particularly elderly people stuck inside their homes with water reaching their waists.
The storm also lashed the Balearic Islands, including Mallorca and Ibiza, where schools were closed and some flights were cancelled or delayed, as well as Catalonia.
In Els Poblets, northeast of Alicante, cars and vans were piled on top of one another from the force of the water as residents tried to salvage what they could from their homes.
"The village, well, it's a disaster. Some people have lost everything all over again, just like in 2007, when exactly the same thing happened," resident Javier Fornez said.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said military emergency teams were assisting with rescue efforts and pledged full government support.
The flooding has drawn comparisons to a catastrophic disaster that struck the Valencia region nearly two years ago, killing more than 220 people, with some reports citing a toll of more than 230.
Spain's national weather agency announced on Friday that last month was mainland Spain's hottest September on record, following what it described as the country's warmest summer between June and August.
