Spain floods latest: Victims ‘trapped like rats’ and 73 dead in Valencia

• At least 73 people have been killed after torrential rain led to flash floods in villages, towns and cities across eastern and southern Spain. Of those, 62 died in the Valencia region, while two were killed in the Castilla La Mancha provence.
• More than 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response unit have been deployed to the most devastated areas to help search for missing people, and to clear up the damage caused by the floods.
• Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has warned the danger is not over despite rain having subsided in Valencia by late Wednesday morning, with the storm heading north. “For those who are looking for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,” he said in a televised message.
• The project to rebuild towns and cities following the damage will be huge, said Mr Sanchez, who also hinted he could call on the help of European Union states. Germany has already offered its support.
• Spain’s state weather agency, AEMET, has issued alerts for regions in the south west and north east of the country, with heavy showers forecast.

The catastrophic flash floods that have killed at least 72 people in Spain are caused by a destructive weather system in which cold and warm air meet and produce powerful rain clouds, a pattern believed to be growing more frequent due to climate change.

The phenomenon is known locally as Dana, a Spanish acronym for high-altitude isolated depression, and unlike common storms or squalls, it can form independently of polar or subtropical jet streams.

When cold air blows over warm Mediterranean waters, it causes hotter air to rise quickly and form dense, water-laden clouds that can remain over the same area for many hours, raising their destructive potential. This sometimes provokes large hail and tornadoes, as seen this week, meteorologists say.

Eastern and southern Spain are particularly susceptible to the phenomenon. Warm, humid air masses and cold fronts meet in a region where mountains favour the formation of storm clouds and rainfall.

This week’s Dana was one of the three most intense such storms in the past century in the Valencia region, said Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for the national weather agency Aemet.

A 71-year-old man who was rescued from his home after the floods in Malaga has died in hospital.

According to the Andalusian President Juanma Moreno, the man was transferred from the affected town of Álora on Tuesday.

Portuguese prime minister Luis Montenegro has said his country is ready support Spain following the deadly floods.

“The Portuguese government expresses its strongest condolences over the high number of flood victims in Spain, shows solidarity with all the Spanish people and the government and makes itself available for all necessary help,” he said.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock also offered help to Spain.

“Europe is standing together. Germany is ready to help in any way necessary,” Ms Baerbock said.

And Ms Meloni said: “Italy is close to Spain in this terrible moment.”

The City Council of El Ejido (Almería) has estimated that the damages caused by heavy rain and hailstorms since last Monday amount to €6.8 million (£5.6m) in public spaces, buildings, and municipal facilities.

Mayor Francisco Góngora and local authorities, who have quantified the damages, said that the destruction has been “substantial and severe”.

Mr Góngora said the storm has affected “more than thirty municipal buildings,” particularly in the areas of El Ejido, Santa María del Águila, Almerimar, and Las Norias.

The mayor of a town in Valencia, Paiporta, has confirmed at least 34 dead due to the dana floods.

Maribel Albalat, from the town of only 25,000 inhabitants, has said the area is “totally cut off, and nothing is working,” and they have “no water.”

The mayor added that the town is trying to “open communication routes” and urged those unable to locate family members in Paiporta to go to the Civil Guard Command in Calamocha Street, Valencia.

Andalusia has raised its emergency level to red due to the severe risk of flooding in the Cádiz countryside.

The decision follows Spanish meteorological agency’s red warning of heavy rains – which has already caused flooding and road closures in Jerez de la Frontera.

The region has now sent warnings to all mobile phones in the red alert area, urging residents to be extremely caution and avoid travel.

Andalusian President Juan Manuel Moreno has called for “maximum caution.”