By Eva Mañez
ELS POBLETS, Spain, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Helicopters rescued people stranded on rooftops as torrential rains swept across eastern Spain on Monday, as floods and storms killed at least three people and shelter-in-place orders remained in force for more than 80,000 residents.
The downpour from Storm Adam cut off several towns along the Mediterranean coast as rivers burst their banks and streets turned into torrents, leaving scenes reminiscent of the catastrophic flooding that killed more than 230 people in the Valencia region two years ago.
Members of the Military Emergencies Unit found the body of a woman in the town of Oliva during rescue operations on Monday, bringing the death toll to three, regional broadcaster A Punt reported, citing sources from the unit.
Two other women were confirmed dead over the weekend: one whose body was washed up on a beach in Sagunto, in the eastern region of Valencia, and another who was swept away by floodwaters in Cabrera de Mar, near Barcelona.
‘IT’S A DISASTER’
In Els Poblets, northeast of Alicante, cars and vans were piled on top of one another from the force of the water as residents tried to salvage what they could from their homes.
“The village, well, it’s a disaster. Some people have lost everything all over again, just like in 2007, when exactly the same thing happened,” chef Javier Fornez, 49, said.
Meteorologists say human-driven climate change makes such extreme weather events more frequent and destructive.
National weather agency AEMET said torrential rains linked to Storm Adam dumped exceptional amounts of rain across eastern Spain, with Pego, in Alicante province, recording 632 mm (25 inches) in 36 hours, while several locations in southern Valencia and northern Alicante exceeded 500 mm over the same period.
AEMET issued several red alerts, warning local people to avoid all travel and to seek higher ground. On Monday morning, 800,000 residents were under shelter-in-place orders, but that had been reduced to 87,000 in eight municipalities by late afternoon.
HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLES STRUGGLE TO ACCESS SOME AREAS
More than 2,000 people were evacuated, mainly in Oliva, and authorities carried out nearly 100 rescues in Valencia and Alicante, the Civil Guard police said.
The mayor of Pego, Enrique Moll, told A Punt radio that several people were still waiting to be evacuated by helicopter from their roofs. All access routes to the town were blocked and even heavy-duty military vehicles were unable to move forward in some areas, he added.
The deputy mayor of the coastal town of Oliva, Salvador Llopis, told state broadcaster TVE on Monday that emergency services were rescuing trapped residents, particularly elderly people stuck inside their homes with water up to their waists.
“They have to stay on top of tables and furniture to avoid getting wet,” he said, adding that the rains had started to ease after causing extensive damage to infrastructure.
More than 100,000 students in Valencia region have had classes suspended due to the alerts, while the central government has deployed emergency units from the military and national police.
The focus of the storm was expected to shift to Catalonia on Monday afternoon, especially Barcelona and Girona provinces, where more than 100 mm of rain could fall in less than 12 hours. Authorities warned that the risk was heightened because the soil was already saturated from previous storms.
(Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; Mireia Merino and David Latona; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Alison Williams)
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