Spain was drenched last month in its wettest October on record, culminating in catastrophic flooding that killed 219 people and left dozens missing, the government said on Friday.
An average of 147 liters per square meter (147 mm) soaked mainland Spain last month, making it the wettest October since records began in 1961, national weather service AEMET and the ministry for ecological transition said.
The deluge was 189 percent above the 1991-2020 reference period for the month and came as temperatures were 0.9 degrees Celsius warmer than average, she added in a statement.
The downpours peaked during a fierce Mediterranean storm on October 29, which unleashed torrents of muddy water that devastated the eastern region of Valencia in Spain’s deadliest floods in decades.
At one measuring station in the city of Turis in the Valencia region, 771 mm of rain fell that day alone.
Although storms in the Mediterranean are common for this time of year, scientists say climate change caused by human activity is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of extreme weather events.
The rainfall that caused the floods was 12 percent heavier and twice as likely compared to the world before global warming, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists.
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