The traumatized region of Valencia woke up unscathed on Thursday after an overnight rain warning, two weeks after the country’s deadliest floods in decades killed more than 200 people there.
National weather agency AEMET lowered its highest red warning for rain for the eastern coast of Valencia after another storm made landfall without causing any casualties.
“It was a difficult night because it didn’t stop raining… we had never seen so much rain,” Jordi Mayor, mayor of the city of Cullera, told public broadcaster TVE.
“Practically all streets” were flooded, rocks and materials were swept across the city and the civil defense headquarters were flooded, prompting a frantic clean-up operation, the mayor added.
Firefighters said on X that they would continue to clean and pump out water in the devastated region after a “tense night”.
Regional authorities in Valencia on Thursday extended the closure of universities and schools, closed daycare centers and sports facilities for adults and limited road traffic in the worst-affected municipalities to “essential vehicles”.
AEMET issued an orange warning for parts of the southern region of Andalusia and part of the Valencia coast on Thursday, saying up to 100 millimeters of rain could fall in 12 hours.
The October 29 disaster killed 223 people – almost all in the Valencia region – and destroyed infrastructure and homes, with final costs expected to reach tens of billions of euros.
The latest storm caused major damage to transport in and around the southern city of Malaga on Wednesday and thousands of residents were evacuated.
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