‘People were crying, they were trapped’: Spain reels from deadly flash floods

Published

1 year ago

November 1, 2024

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Emergency responders are searching for bodies inside stranded cars and buildings following deadly flash floods in Spain that have killed at least 158 people.

Scenes of destruction have been left in the wake of the powerful floodwaters which hit the east of the country late on Tuesday and early Wednesday, marking Spain‘s worst natural disaster this century.

Cars have been piled high on top of each other, homes and businesses have been swept away, trees have been uprooted, and roads and bridges have been left unrecognisable.

Spain flooding latest: Looting breaks out as flood deaths rise

At least 92 people have died in the worst-hit region of Valencia, while deaths were also reported in Castilla La Mancha and southern Andalusia.

An unknown number of people remain missing.

“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s transport minister Oscar Puente said.

In the Valencian district of La Torre, nine dead bodies were discovered inside a garage – with a local police officer among the victims.

Luis Sanchez, a welder, said he saved several people from floodwaters rushing through the V-31 motorway south of Valencia city.

“I saw bodies floating past. I called out but nothing,” Mr Sanchez said.

“The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”

Satellite images from NASA show how severe flooding has impacted Valencia and its surrounding towns.

The images, captured on 30 October, show large areas to the south of the city covered in floodwater.

The Turia river, which runs through the city, can be seen at a much higher level.

The Pobles del Sud, a large lake nearby, overflowed. Much of the area surrounding the lake was covered in floodwater.

The worst of the destruction was concentrated in Paiporta, a municipality next to Valencia city, where 62 people have been reported dead.

Mayor Maribel Albalat told national broadcaster RTVE: “We found a lot of elderly people in the town centre. There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages… it was a real trap.”

What has caused the devastation?

The flooding events in Spain have been hard to witness. But the rainfall there could never have been anything but devastating.

Chiva, located just to the west of Valencia, received 491mm of rain in an eight-hour window.

Some 100-200mm fell in surrounding areas with the accumulation of running water producing apocalyptic scenes.

In addition there have been over 20,000 lightning strikes.

Whilst the rainfall totals are astounding in themselves, this part of the world is simply not accustomed to huge quantities of water falling from the sky.

In an average year, Spain would expect somewhere between 50 and 100 mm of rain throughout the entire month of October but Valencia and Andalusia would expect far less – just 60–70mm.

So how did this happen? It’s attributable to a DANA, a “depresion aislada en niveles altos” or a “cut-off low”.

This is a low pressure system which becomes slow moving or stationary, blocked by high pressure elsewhere, which can only keep shedding its rain over the same area for long periods of time.

These systems are not that unusual. They occur when cool air from the north is drawn across the Mediterranean in late summer and autumn when the waters are war. The temperature differential enhances storms and rainfall totals.

But whilst not uncommon, this one was certainly extreme.

And it hasn’t gone yet. This same system has continued to bring further heavy rain and thunderstorms today, but it has now moved a little further north and east, heading toward the French border and currently remaining to the west of Barcelona.

The rain and thunderstorms are likely to continue for a few days yet with the Tarragona and Castellon regions still under an amber warning while a yellow warning remains in force for both eastern and western Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday morning that Valencia had been declared a disaster zone and that the priority was to find victims and missing people.

He also urged those affected to stay at home as more torrential rain was forecast.

“The most important thing is that I know Spanish people are aware that this phenomenon has not finished,” he said.

Sky News’ Europe correspondent Adam Parsons, reporting from Valencia, said the devastation suffered in the region is “enormous”.

“What we’re witnessing now are the locals here who are waking up and seeing what’s happened to their town and what has happened is something almost apocalyptic,” he said.

A nearby shop was left “absolutely wrecked” and looked like a “bomb has gone off in there”, he added.

Three days of mourning has been declared in Spain, beginning on Thursday.

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flood event in recent memory, and scientists have linked its strength to climate change.

World

‘No one is here to help us’: Palestinians watch on as Israeli diggers tear down their homes in East Jerusalem

Published

6 hours ago

December 23, 2025

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'No one is here to help us': Palestinians watch on as Israeli diggers tear down their homes in East Jerusalem

A balcony of onlookers stare as three diggers gnaw at the four-storey building that was a fixture of their daily view.

The roads of Silwan’s Wadi Qaddom neighbourhood are blocked off by Israeli police as residents watch the demolition in the valley from every vantage point. The block of flats was home to around 100 of their neighbours – many of them are now homeless.

An elderly woman sits at the bus stop near the police checkpoint closest to the demolition site. As she walks back down the hill, she looks back at the destruction. Her cheeks are red with anger when she hails that God is their only protection.

“Where are the Arab countries? No one is here to help us,” she exclaims.

Of the 230 buildings demolished in East Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighbourhoods in 2025, the block of roughly 13 flats is considered to be the largest and took 12 hours to completely demolish.

The building was without a permit, like many in Silwan, and stood on land that was not licensed for residential use. The residents were challenging long-standing demolition orders and applying for licensing when diggers arrived at dawn.

The Jerusalem Municipality said the demolition of the building in Silwan was based on a 2014 court order, and that residents were granted extensions for the execution of the order and were offered various options in order to find a solution, but they declined to do so.

But an architect and urban planner from the Israeli NGO Bimkom (Planners for Planning Rights) – which is supporting the families in their bid to license the land of the building – says their time to act was cut short.

“They were told that the demolition order would be implemented, and then they would get another six months’ recourse to try to continue with their planning. Six months is not enough for these planning processes. They take a long time,” Sari Kornish tells us in front of the Jerusalem Municipality after meeting with the building residents’ lawyer there.

Are permits granted for Palestinians in East Jerusalem?

“Very, very few, and in recent years, since October 7, less and less,” says Sari.

“It has always been discrimination. It has always been not enough.”

Far-right minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir posted on X about the building’s demolition.

He said: “Proud to lead the policy of demolishing illegal buildings – not only in the Negev, this morning in East Jerusalem (Silwan neighbourhood) a building that was built illegally and 100 people lived in it – was demolished! Strengthens the police and the district commander.”

Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank is illegal under international law.

On Sunday, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the security cabinet approved 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Half a million Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank, and over 230,000 live in East Jerusalem, where some are taking over homes instead of seizing land.

At least 500 Palestinians have lost their homes to lack-of-permit demolitions in East Jerusalem, and at least 1,000 people, including 460 children, are at risk of forced displacement from eviction cases filed against them in Israeli courts by settler organisations.

In the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Batn al Hawa in Silwan, Zuhair al Rajabbi looks out from his balcony at the homes of his neighbours.

The landscape is marked by demolition sites, and former homes of his neighbours are marked by Israeli flags. Settlers are busy renovating the rooftops to make their own.

“They have five children, and a grandmother was in one room. Downstairs, there was a family of seven children, with the wife and mother, in that one,” he says, pointing at the roof of his neighbours.

As we watch, a woman quietly mops the dirty water into a hole in the fence and onto the roof of the house next door.

“Look, they are even putting the dirty water on our neighbour’s roof,” Zuhair says with a sad bitterness.

“We used to live together like we live here at home – eating and drinking with them. It makes me sad when I see their home disappearing.”

World

Trump: US has to have Greenland

Published

9 hours ago

December 23, 2025

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Donald Trump has said the US “has to have” Greenland, claiming it needs the territory for national security.

It comes after the US president appointed Louisiana’s governor Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland, saying he would “lead the charge” in advocating the semi-autonomous part of Denmark to become part of the United States.

“Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our national security,” Mr Trump said.

“We need Greenland for national security, not for minerals… If you take a look at Greenland, you look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.

“We need it for national security. We have to ‍have it… Greenland is a big deal.”

Why does Trump want Greenland?

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement that Greenland belongs to Greenlanders, stressing the US will not take it over.

“You cannot annex another country. Not even ‌with an argument about international security,” they said.

The country has already summoned the US ambassador in protest, with its foreign minister saying the move shows the US is still interested in the vast Danish territory.

Mr Trump has repeatedly called for the US to take over the mineral rich and strategically located Arctic island, since winning his second term, and has not ruled out using military force to achieve it.

Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said everyone – including the US – must show respect for Denmark’s territorial integrity.

How did we get here?

In March, US Vice President JD Vance visited a remote American military base in Greenland and accused Denmark – a NATO ally of the US – of underinvesting there.

The issue then gradually drifted out of the headlines but, in August, Danish officials again summoned the US ambassador – following a report that at least three people with connections to Mr Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

The territory’s strategic position between Europe and North America makes it a key site for the US ballistic missile defence system, while its mineral wealth has heightened US interest in reducing reliance on Chinese exports.

Earlier this month, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the US was using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.

The report also highlighted the rising strategic importance of the Arctic to great power countries as “conflict between Russia and the West intensifies.

It went on to say that the growing security and strategic focus on the Arctic by the US would “further accelerate these developments”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is worried about NATO’s activities in the Arctic and will respond by strengthening its military capability in the polar region.

World

Timing of Russian general’s assassination appears significant

Published

15 hours ago

December 22, 2025

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Timing of Russian general's assassination appears significant

A Russian general being blown up on his own doorstep isn’t a good look for Moscow, and it seems it’s becoming increasingly common.

The latest high-profile figure to be assassinated since Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine is Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov.

He was killed by a car bomb that detonated outside a residential complex, little more than 10 miles from the Kremlin.

Ukraine war latest: Kremlin denies Putin plans to invade European countries

He was a senior figure. Head of the operational training directorate of the general staff, Sarvarov prepared forces for future deployment, having previously served in Chechnya and Syria.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Moscow believes Kyiv may have been behind it. No wonder – they’ve carried out similar attacks many times before.

This time last year, Ukraine took credit for the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who Kyiv alleged had ordered chemical weapons to be used against its troops on the battlefield.

He was killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment block, which Vladimir Putin referred to as a “major blunder” by the security services.

But the attacks didn’t stop there.

In April, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed after a car exploded in a town just outside Moscow. And two months ago another car bomb in Siberia killed a Russian commander accused of committing war crimes.

It’s unclear why Sarvarov was targeted – perhaps simply because his rank and apparent vulnerability.

The timing appears significant. It follows the latest peace talks between US and Russian officials in Miami over the weekend, where Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev met with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

In the past, Ukraine has used these kinds of attacks to embarrass Moscow and to bring the war closer to home for Russians.

This time could be Kyiv’s way of undermining Moscow’s narrative in the negotiations.

The Kremlin has been trying to persuade the White House that a Russian victory is inevitable, and that it’s futile to support Ukraine, in the hope of securing a more preferential settlement.

Ukraine has been trying to convince the Trump administration of the opposite – that it’s still full of fight – and taking out Russian generals in their own backyard is one way of doing that.

It shows Washington that the Kremlin is clearly not in total control.