Floods in Spain. 51 dead.

This is a true horror ..

At the moment the death toll is 51 + ..

They are doing their best to rescue both humans and animals in Rescue Centres.

The Alicante Airport has provided hotel accomodations to all that have flown over to return home predominately from The U.K.

I have a friend who had advised me of her stay overnight in Alicante (she resides in Xativa, Valencia) which was provided by Easy Jet Airlines to Valencia and the airline diverted to The Alicante Airport.

Many posters online sent in photographs from the Police Alerts and it looks like a true hurricane hit the region.

So so sad.

The positive is that many people have rescued and reached out to help others both humans and canines / felines. There are some lovely help stories online.

It is a true tragedy.

The latest figures show 62 dead. Terrible news.

Apparently owing to flash floods, the result of torrential rain. Malaga is affected too.

The UME ( Rescue Military ) which handles victims of flooding, avalanches, drownings, weather calamities etcetra has been doing a remarkable job in Valencia saving people and their animals via helicopters and planes ..

Truly a tragedy.

Attached is a report in Spanish however, those who are interested could have it translated via Google Translate.

The various Police forces are out there and doing their best to save lives and assist in rescuing.

Yes it is a tragedy.

It was a tragedy that 100s of people are still missing and hundreds of families still homeless after Hurricane Helene hit the Appalachians, and Hurricane Milton hit Florida.

It's not long since Paris and Venice (and other parts of Austria) flooded too, although I haven't heard that there were any deaths there.

Terrible news. So many have lost their lives. Spain does suffer from horrendous flooding. We were in Malaga one year when the heavens opened, was a deluge the like of which I have never experienced over here. Many buildings in Torremolinos were damaged and walkways to the promenade were washed away as well as parts of the promenade. The beach was completely reconfigured.
But this sounds so much worse.
Thoughts are with those in the thick of it 🙏🏾😣

My cousin and her family live in Valencia. We are not in regular contract, just cards at Christmas. I hope they are ok.

contact

72 dead now. Poor souls.

Poor people

It’s very, very sad.

Tragic. And what is so poignant, the sun will come out this weekend in Valencia and by this time next week areas will be dry but families who have lost loved ones will look on in despair at life returning to normal for some lucky people.

One of my nieces was a holiday rep and she said she very often had to collect bus loads of people to take to their resort with rain half way up her calves.

Spanish minister Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez has announced that the country will observe three days of mourning from Thursday to Saturday to remember those killed and effected by the historic floods.

He told a news conference that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke with King Felipe VI at a crisis committee meeting and informed him of the official days of mourning.

Now, at least 72 people have been killed after torrential rain battered the eastern region of Valencia, and an unconfirmed number of people are thought to be missing.

* affected

We got news of our friends with young family who live in rural area above Valencia, and they are all OK.

This is just terrible for the region, country after country suffering a similar fate due to climate change, and seas being far too warm. And still so many deny this is due to global warming, and just freak events.

Goodness knows what is going to happen. My son was talking about the North Atlantic Drift.

It is known that because of climate change it has been slowing but there is evidence that it is stopping. What on earth that means for the UKs temperate climate goodness only knows.

I always think back to the flood at Boscastle which was the first time I became aware of strange things happening environmentally and one that people I knew were involved in.

At a recent U3A Conference, we were shown eveidence that our mountain region of Eastern France, with a traditionally very cold snowy climate in winter, will have Barcelona's climate in just 40 years time. I won't be around by then- but I so fear for our grandchildren.

Wine growers are in the process of replacing vineyards with grapes which can stand a warmer climate, and foresters are replacing the species grown in the area due to increased winter temps and dry weather.

We’ve got to stop burning fossil fuels, driving petrol cars etc. yes it will mean a less comfortable lifestyle and change in habits but it will only get worse without some drastic behavioural change.

Locals have also blamed poor drainage around towns for exacerbating the floods. One told The Telegraph: “There are floods every year at this time, mainly in smaller towns near rivers. Drainage is a big problem.

“The ground is solid from the summer heat so the water runs off the mountains into rivers.

“When they overflow, the hard ground can’t soak up the excess water so it becomes a flood. If it rains three or four days in a row, there is a flood.

“The drainage system in towns doesn’t seem that good, either. In some places, you hardly see any drains in the streets.”

They apparently had a year's rain in 24 hours!

Only the other day it was reported that Spain was going to become the next Sahara.

I hope there is no more, it looks devastating.

Did anyone watch Frozen Planet this evening on BBC4?
I think it was a repeat but worth watching again.

However - are all those teams and visitors to the Arctic and Antarctic causing more trouble?

Is tonights repeated in the early hours? As a nocturnal person I’ve been watching Frozen Planet recently, being totally mesmerised by the beauty of the photography. But at the same time feeling so afraid for where we’re heading climate wise.