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Valencia battered by bad flooding - 11th November 2024

After a year's worth of torrential rainfall pelted Spain's Valencia region in just 24 hours, extensive areas were left barely recognisable.

The circumstances of the disaster, according to the Spanish Meteorological Agency AEMET, relate to the so-called DANA or 'cold drop', which occurs when two masses of warm and cold air collide. This results in the rapid ascent of the warmer air, to form water-saturated clouds.

Thanks to the area's geographical location between the cold Atlantic and the warm Mediterranean, eastern and southern Spain are particularly prone to this phenomenon. The mountainous coast favours the formation of storm clouds, hail storms and tornadoes, all of which the region has witnessed.

Claiming the lives of over 200 people, with numerous individuals still unaccounted for, the authorities are conducting ongoing searches for those missing or awaiting rescue. Meanwhile, volunteers embark on the daunting mission to clear up the catastrophic mess.

In flood-struck Paiporta, one of the towns most severely impacted, Vanesa Cruanyes gazed in horror as shop workers opposite grappled with the torrent.

Vanesa Cruanyes: "In this shop all the workers were trapped inside when the lights went. They’d pulled down the shutters and they were all trapped inside, until the glass broke in this window from the force of the water and they were able to get out to some cars that were here. They got into the cars. They managed to get a little girl and another woman up to the first floor with sheets."

With the ever-present fear of looting, student Sofia Sánchez and other residents have stoically banded together to safeguard local outlets in the aftermath.

Sofia Sanchez: "We came down at two o'clock in the morning or so, because we saw that they were looting the tobacconist's there, and we said, well, they're going into the jewellery shop, they're going to enter the Chinese shop, they're going to enter every store. And we've been taking turns."

As abnormally heavy rain drenches Andalucia and western regions, Pedro Sánchez – the nation's Prime Minister – is deploying a rapidly increasing number of troops. Ongoing assistance to victims has been pledged, as well as three days of official mourning.

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