Manuel Elai, a farmer in southern Spain, was hit by tennis ball-sized hail Monday night, as the country faces one of the most destructive rainstorms of the year. I watched helplessly as it broke through.
“My greenhouse looks like it’s been shot,” Iray, 40, said by phone Tuesday afternoon from his farm in the Andalusian agricultural region of El Ejido. Windows were broken and cars were damaged around him. “The ground is full of sparrows,” he said, “dead on the sidewalks.”
Ielai is one of the millions of residents in southern and eastern Spain, including cities such as Valencia, Murcia and Malaga, who have been affected by heavy flooding that began in earnest Monday night. In some areas, more than a month’s worth of rain fell in one day. The Andalusia region received four times the amount of rain that normally falls during October.
Early on Wednesday, Reuters reported that the leader of the Valencia region said bodies had been found after the flash floods, but he did not say how many.
“Out of respect for the families, we will not provide any further data,” leader Carlos Mazon said.
Spain’s meteorological agency said some areas received 150 to 200 liters of rain per square meter, or about 40 to 50 gallons per square yard, in two hours. And meteorologists expect the rain to continue through at least Thursday, if not into the weekend.
“This is a huge amount of rainfall,” said Ruben del Campo, a spokesman for the weather agency. He said the rainfall presented an "extreme danger” and urged people not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
Many Spaniards, accustomed to heavy autumn storms, were still shocked by the amount of rainfall. They sent each other videos Tuesday of brown water flowing through fields, lapping at the base of bridges and flowing through trees.
Cars were partially submerged or floating on the road. Houses were flooded. Public transportation was disrupted. (Trains were damaged in Malaga, Antequera, and elsewhere. Valencia’s subway was also damaged. A high-speed train from Malaga to Madrid derailed near Alora, but no one was injured.) Schools have been closed in the following areas: Murcia, Malaga and nearby Alora.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Irai said. “My grandmother is 89 years old and has never seen anything like this.”
Emergency services are carrying out heroic rescue operations, but the situation is still evolving. Nieves Goicoechea, head of communications at Spain’s Interior Ministry, declined to confirm whether anyone was missing, saying he did not yet have concise figures.
The heavy rains in Spain can be attributed to a sudden cold front known in Spanish as “Gota Fria”. This weather pattern is relatively common and is sometimes referred to as “DANA.” This is an acronym for “isolated high-altitude cyclone.”
As the cold air moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the warmer, moister air at the surface rises rapidly. This creates solid rain clouds. A storm system then pushes moisture-rich clouds into Spain.
“These phenomena have become more extreme in recent years and are causing serious damage,” said Spanish physicist and meteorologist Mar Gomez.
The weather service’s Del Campo said one reason for this is that warmer air can hold more water vapor, which means more water falls when it rains. The Mediterranean Sea is also getting hotter, making such rains heavier and more frequent. In August, seawater temperatures reached their highest ever recorded.
“This is caused by cold air interacting with hot surfaces, which in turn become even hotter,” said Miriam Zaitegui Pérez, Spanish director of the European Climate Foundation.
In 2019, a river in Valencia burst its banks due to a cold wave, forcing many residents to evacuate. At least six people were killed in eastern Spain in the worst storm in 140 years, El Pais newspaper reported.
Del Campo said the phenomenon is even more widespread geographically. Rain brought on by the fall of cold air is no longer hitting just the coast, but also cities like Madrid, where “it’s not normal to have this much rain”.
Farmer Yerai is currently investigating the damage. He will lose some of the investments he made in his crops (primarily green and red peppers for the Nordic market) and will have to move quickly to repair his greenhouse before winter. No one in his family was injured.
“We farmers have a similar philosophy to fishermen: we have to go out and work and keep moving forward and do what we can to survive,” he said.
