New RED ALERT Spain weather warning with torrential rain heading to Balearics as 158 killed in tsunami-like destruction
Date: 2024-11-01A NEW red weather alert has been issued in southwest Spain as torrential rain heads to the Balearics with at least 158 people killed so far in the violent floods.
The Spanish province of Huelva received the deadly alert as residents have been chillingly warned to “brace for more fatalities”.
A view of wrecked cars in Paiporta zero area of flood[/caption]
Images from Thursday afternoon show the aftermath of the country’s worst natural disaster in living history.
Hundreds of abandoned cars and trucks can be seen trapped in murky brown sludge on the highway.
Civilians were made to ditch their motors as the torrential rainfall and flash floods engulfed much of eastern Spain on Tuesday.
Spain’s transport minister has been one of many officials scrambling to try and contain the crisis.
DEVASTATING FLOODS
Elsewhere, brave rescuers airlifted a baby and an elderly woman from the devastating Spanish floods.
Footage showed how an elderly woman, who seemed to be unable to move, was airlifted in a metal cage.
The roads below her were seen to be covered in mud and cars were piled up on debris.
A separate video showed the heartbreaking moment a baby was saved and airlifted onto a plane in a rescuer’s arms, in the country’s worst-hit region of Valencia.
Across the region, trees had been uprooted in the storms and cars had piled up on each other like dominoes.
Powerlines were also brought down as the strength of the unexpected torrent even tore apart bridges sat in its way.
A terrifying video caught the moment an entire bridge in Paiporta, Valencia, where at least 40 people have died, was wiped out in seconds.
It comes as further rainfall is expected tomorrow and in the coming days.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez has declared Valencia a disaster zone as he warned the public about the incoming weather.
He said: “The most important thing is that I know Spanish people are aware that this phenomenon has not finished.
“All of those who have been affected, please stay at home.”
Why was Spain hit by flooding?
Spain was hit by flash floods after the east of the country was hit by a meteorological phenomena known as a ‘DANA’.
A DANA, or a ‘cold drop’ is technically a system where there is an isolated depression in the atmosphere is at high levels.
In layman’s terms, more warm and moist Mediterranean air than usual was sucked high into the atmosphere after a cold system hit the country from the south.
The easterly wind then pushed all those clouds and rain into eastern Spain.
Three to four months of rain fell in some places over the space of 24 hours.
The DANA system hit southern Spain as it arrived from Morocco yesterday and is now expected to head west over southern Portugal.
