Many Spaniards count their losses and damage to homes and businesses caused by floods caused by heavy rain that continued to fall on large areas of the country
ALCANAR, Spain – Many Spaniards on Thursday accounted for their losses and damage to homes and businesses caused by floods caused by heavy rain that continued to fall on large areas of the country.
The instantaneous floods, dangerous in some parts of eastern Spain since Wednesday, did not cause any direct casualties. But two young Germans drowned during the night from Wednesday to Thursday when they went swimming in the sea on the tourist island of Mallorca.
The victims were 23 and 25 years old. They were part of a larger group of seven people, all of German nationality, who swam later than two in the morning, according to national police and emergency services on the island. Four women and a man were able to get out of the water.
In the city of Alcanar, in northeastern Spain, one of the areas most affected by the sudden rain, residents said Thursday that they were lucky not to lose lives when more than 250 were dumped in the city. liters per square meter (45 gallons per square yard). Wednesday between 12 and 6 p.m.
“We had to go upstairs and leave everything in God’s hands,” said Rosa Maria Sancho, a 67-year-old restaurant owner on Alcanar’s boardwalk.
The fulminating flood quickly turned the streets into swift rivers that swept their way. Several cars were taken away and about a dozen ended up thrown into the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Houses and businesses were filled with mud, water and rubble.
Sancho’s daughter, Carla Bayerri, said they watched helplessly as “part of the terrace went into the sea.”
Other parts of central and northern Spain, including Madrid and nearby Toledo, also saw flooding on Wednesday.
Firefighters used a helicopter to rescue three people in grave danger. More cars trapped in the rising waters had to be pulled out.
Regional authorities moved 58 residents to hotels, while another 16 spent the night in cots in a sports pavilion. Four people had to be rescued at a nearby campground which was also badly damaged.
Paquita Aubalat was relieved that her father, Vicent, 93, was rescued from her Alcanar home by a neighbor when the water flooded her.
“He had his whole life in (his house), but the important thing is that he is safe,” Aubalat said.
Authorities were working to restore traffic on roads and railroad lines that mud and water could not overcome.
Large areas of northern Spain and its Balearic Islands remain on alert for storms for the second day in a row.
The Spanish national weather service said the country is experiencing an increase in heavy rainfall and droughts related to climate change.
“Spain observes, especially in parts of the Mediterranean, periods of more intense torrential rains and longer periods of drought that are interrupted by these intense rains,” said the spokesman for the national weather service, Rubén del Campo.
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AP writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona and Aritz Parra in Madrid contributed to this report.