At least one person died in the Valencia floods

Plink one person died in the torrential rains and floods that are hitting the Valencia region in eastern Spain, the local authorities said today.

Rescue teams on the ground found the corpse of a woman on the lower floor of a house in the municipality of Oliva, according to the local authority and the Emergency Military Unit (UME) of the Spanish Armed Forces.

In the same place another woman, alive, was found, said the same sources.

The Spanish region of Valencia is being hit by torrential rains that are causing floods and the transshipment of rivers and leaving several villages isolated, in a situation that is “very complicated”, the authorities said today.

Because of the rains and floods, a mandatory lockdown order was issued today for the most affected areas and a special helicopter device was deployed to rescue people.

A “special device of seven helicopters” was deployed to rescue isolated people who are participating in the Armed Forces, maritime rescue services and security forces, said the person responsible for civil protection in the Valencian Community, Juan Carlos Valderrama.

In addition to helicopters, rescues are being made with speedboats, authorities say.

“Rescues of people who are in a complicated situation continue to be made,” said the delegate of the Spanish Government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Barnabas, in “very complex jobs”.

According to the regional authorities and the Spanish weather services, in the last 12 hours it rained in the Valencian Community between 200 and 300 litres of water per square metre, with records of 500 litres in some areas.

In areas such as the Safor county (south of the city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast), the storm is “extraordinary” and with rainfall levels that have not been there since 1987, the Spanish State Weather Agency (Aemet) said.

The authorities issued a mandatory restraining order for areas in the province of Alicante and Valencia, both in the autonomous region of the Valencian Community.

“ It cannot circulate, it must remain in your homes, there are intense and continuous rains that are causing significant flooding in municipalities such as Pego, Oliva, Piles or Miramar ", Juan Carlos Valderrama said in the early morning, in a message to the population transmitted by Spanish radios and televisions.

In late October 2024, the region of Valencia, in eastern Spain, was also hit by torrential rains that caused floods in which 237 people died.

Contrary to what happened in 2024, authorities sent a warning this morning to the population’s mobile phones warning the floods and asking everyone to stay home and climb to the highest floors of the buildings.

Juan Carlos Valderrama said today that there are “many people arrested” and asked the population to “follow all the advice that is being transmitted” by the authorities.

In statements to Spanish radio stations, mayors such as Pego (Alicante), Enrique Moll, said that in some areas of the municipality there are people on the roofs of buildings waiting for rescue by air and that authorities are receiving “a multitude of calls” because of flooded houses and garages.

In addition to the body found today, another woman drowned on Sunday on a beach in Valencia, when she entered the sea just after an alert was issued for bad weather.

On Saturday, another person died in Barcelona (Catalunya region in northeastern Spain) because of the rains on the Mediterranean coast.