Spain floods: Epicentre now a bizarre medley of debris – as video shows miraculous rescue
To walk through the streets of Paiporta is to see nature at its most vicious.
Everywhere, there is chaos in this town. Lives have been ripped apart, turned upside down and ended.
Spain floods latest: Looting breaks out as flood deaths surpass 150
You can’t drive into Paiporta, a suburb about 4 miles to the southwest of Valencia, so we cover the final mile by foot. For most of the walk, we pass past fruit groves. The sun is getting warmer.
It could be a normal day. Except then you arrive in the town, and normality has gone.
We turn a corner and find a road that has been wholly blocked by a wall of cars, thrown together.
To the side, a family is wading through their garage, which is under three feet of water.
All around is a bizarre medley of debris. Most of it is coated in thick, sticky mud that clings to everything – the road, your clothes and all these chunks of everyday life that have been swept away and mixed together.
So there is a child’s shoe, a beer chiller, a jumper, a corkscrew and a lump of an engine block. All of them muddled, muddy and sad.
“We have to clean,” says the woman, staring at the endless water in her garage. Her son is wading in, pulling out possessions.
There were three motorbikes in here, two of them new. All of them are ruined. Everything in sight is ruined. But they know they are lucky.
Down the road, on the other side of the wall of cars, they knew a couple who were in their car when the flood water came, with shocking speed.
They both died – two of forty people who are known to have died in this town so far.
The damage is utterly random. A car lies, absurdly, on top of a children’s slide. Paving stones lie in a pile while front doors flap open, offering a view of homes that have been engulfed by water and mud.
Outside, there are people trying to push the water away, using brooms and shovels.
Down the road, we visit Catarroja, normally a pretty town that welcomes plenty of tourists.
Now the main high street is covered in pebbles and as we drive in, we have to gingerly avoid holes in the road, industrial dustbins that have rolled into the street, and a long line of crumpled vehicles.
Everywhere we go, in fact, it is the cars that are the symbol of these floods – tossed around carelessly, thrown into gardens, into a playground, into rivers and streams, on top of each other and into houses.
They are smashed, upturned, filthy, and broken, and the cars have, in turn, broken so much else. When the water rushed through these towns, it picked them up and used them as weapons.
A woman walks past, pleading with me to tell the world that they have no water and no food. Everything has been cut off and the shops are shut.
Half an hour later, I see her and a friend walking along the street with a shopping trolley loaded with food, arguing with other people. They have, quite clearly, helped themselves to what they needed.
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Across the road, half-wedged in a tree, is a boat. We are a decent way from the sea, and nobody seems to know whose boat it is, or where it came from.
But there it is, a symbol of how this flood created such instant discordant chaos.
We meet Veronica, walking along with her two children. She is taking them to a grandparent, whose house is out of town.
She tells me that they had precious little warning before the flood hit – merely a request earlier in the day to take children home from school because there was a storm on the way.
Veronica, who is taking her children out of town
“One minute there was just rain and then there was two metres of water,” she says.
“It was very scary. People have been hurt and some people have died. Now we have to help each other to repair this town.”
She looks around. “It will take a long time.”
There are happier stories, tales of survival and courage. Three young girls come to talk to us in the street, showing us a video of their father rescuing a man from the water at the very moment their road had turned into a churning river (VIDEO AT TOP).
The man, a local called Luis, is being swept along, desperate to survive.
Their father, leaning out of the window of the family’s apartment, has thrown down a rope and is clinging on.
As we watch, you can hear the screams of the man and the encouraging shouts of the onlookers.
Slowly, slowly, he is pulled out of the water and clambers over a balcony to safety.
The girls burst with pride; their father, clearly, saved this man’s life. In the midst of this horror, there are shards of valour and joy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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UN runs out of food aid in Gaza
Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
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It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
The smell of explosives is still in the air when we arrive.
Hours before, a displacement camp in Atbara housing families who fled the war in Sudan’s capital Khartoum was hit by two drone strikes in a four-pronged attack.
The first bomb on 25 April burned donated tents and killed the children in them.
The second hit a school serving as a shelter for the spillover of homeless families.
Chunks of cement and plaster had been blasted off the walls of the classrooms where they slept when the second explosive was dropped.
Blood marked the entrance of the temporary home closest to the crater.
Inside, shattered glass and broken window frames speak to the force of the explosion. We were told by their neighbours that four people in the family were instantly killed.
“People were torn apart. This is inhumane,” says their neighbour Mahialdeen, whose brother and sister were injured. “We are praying that God lifts this catastrophe. We left Khartoum because of the fighting and found it here.”
Wiping a tear, he says: “It is chasing us.”
The sanctuary city held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) about 200 miles northeast of Khartoum has been hit by six drone attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the start of the year.
These latest strikes are the most deadly.
The drones – known for targeting civilian infrastructure – hit the displacement camp twice, the nearby power station supplying the city with electricity and an empty field with four bombs in the dark, early hours of the morning. First responders have told Sky News that 12 people were killed, including at least two children.
RSF increasingly using drones to carry out attacks
Data from the conflict-monitoring organisation ACLED shows the RSF has carried out increasing numbers of drone attacks across the country.
The most targeted states have been Khartoum and North Darfur, where fighting on the ground has been fierce, as well as Atbara’s River Nile State.
The data suggests that the increase in strikes has been driven by a change in tactics following the SAF’s recapture of Khartoum in late March, with the number of strikes carried out by the RSF spiking shortly after their withdrawal from the capital.
Satellite imagery shows the RSF’s airpower has allowed it to continue to attack targets in and around Khartoum.
Nearby Wadi Seidna Airbase was targeted after the attack on Atbara, with damage visible across a large area south of its airfield.
We were given access to the remains of latest suicide drones launched at Khartoum and could not find discernible signs of commercial origin.
Drone experts told Sky News that they are self-built devices made from generic parts with no identifiable manufacturers for the components.
Read more:
Sky reporter returns to family home left in ruins
UK announces £120m aid package for Sudan
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Two years of war in Sudan
Drones sighted in South Darfur are consistent with Chinese models
High-resolution satellite images confirm the presence of drones at the RSF-held Nyala Airport.
While the total number of drones kept at this location is unknown, imagery from Planet Labs shows six on 24 April.
This is the highest number of drones observed at the airport, suggesting an increase in the RSF’s available airpower.
The location and number of drones visible in satellite imagery at Nyala Airport has varied over time, suggesting they are in active use.
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Yousra Elbagir visits wartorn home in Sudan
While it is not possible to determine the exact model of drones sighted at Nyala Airport, a report published by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Lab has previously found them to be consistent with the Chinese-produced FH-95.
Analysis carried out by Sky News confirms these findings, with the measurements and visible features matching those of the CH-95 and FH-95. Both designs are produced in China.
The United Arab Emirates is widely accused of supplying Chinese drones to the RSF through South Sudan and Uganda, as well as weapons through Chad. The UAE vehemently denies these claims.
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Sudanese military in presidential palace
Evidence of new airfields
Satellite imagery viewed by Sky News suggests the RSF has worked to increase its air capabilities outside of South Darfur.
In late 2024, five new airstrips appeared in West Kordofan between the contested cities of North Darfur capital Al Fashir and Khartoum.
While the purpose of these airstrips is unknown, it is clear they carry some level of military significance, having been targeted by air in April.
In high-resolution images, no aircraft can be seen. Damage is visible next to a structure that appears to be an aircraft hangar.
The rapid escalation in drone strikes is being brutally suffered on the ground.
In Atbara’s Police Hospital, we find a ward full of the injured survivors.
One of them, a three-year-old girl called Manasiq, is staring up at the ceiling in wide-eyed shock with her head wrapped in a bandage and her feet covered in dried blood.
Her aunt tells us the explosion flung her small body across the classroom shelter but she miraculously survived.
She has shrapnel in her head and clings onto her aunt as her mother is treated for her own injuries in a ward on the first floor.
In a dark room deeper in the ward, a mother sits on the edge of a hospital bed holding her young injured daughter. Her son, only slightly older, is on a smaller adjustable bed further away.
Fadwa looks forlorn and helpless. Her children were spending the night with relatives in the temporary tents when the first strike hit and killed her eight-year-old son.
His surviving sister and brother have been asking after him, but Fadwa can’t bring herself to break the news.
“What can I say? This is our fate. We fled the war in Khartoum but can’t escape the violence,” Fadwa says, staring off in the distance.
“We are condemned to this fate.”
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