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The Spanish tourist provinces of Malaga and Tarragona have been on red alert (extreme risk) since 09:00 GMT due to possible torrential rain , fifteen days after the historic storm that left more than 220 dead, especially in the part of Valencia, where it will also rain again.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from the areas at greatest risk, classes and non-urgent medical consultations have been suspended, and warnings have been issued to the population to stay at home as much as possible to avoid a repeat of the dramatic situation of October 29, when the alerts from civil protection agencies arrived after there were already deaths.
Spain’s State Meteorological Agency has issued red warnings for Malaga and Tarragona for torrential rains that could leave accumulated rainfall of 120 to 180 litres per square metre in 12 hours, but there are also orange alerts (significant risk) in other provinces such as Granada, the Balearic Islands and the Valencia region.
The lifeless bodies of Rubén and Izan, two children aged 3 and 5 who disappeared in the town of Torrent, swept away by the flood on 29 October, while they were with their father, have been found in Valencia, according to municipal sources on Wednesday.
A waterspout, also known as a waterspout, swept across the tourist Costa del Sol in Malaga for several minutes on Wednesday, but it dissolved as soon as it touched land without causing any personal or material damage, emergency services in the Malaga town have informed EFE.
The ground zero of this new isolated depression at high levels (Dana), the meteorological phenomenon that caused the floods at the end of October, is now moving further south of the country (Málaga) and north (Tarragona), two provinces bathed by the Mediterranean.
This situation implies that “overflows and flooding” may occur, according to Aemet spokesman Rubén del Campo, who details that in the Valencian Community, rainfall above 150 litres will be collected in 24 hours and will be recorded again in the areas most affected by the floods of 29 October.
In other parts of Catalonia, and in the provinces of Alicante, Malaga and also in Granada , orange level warnings persist , which entails “significant danger and, therefore, extreme caution must be taken and no one should approach riverbeds, even if they are dry, or flood zones,” Del Campo stressed.
For its part, the Meteored meteorological service warns that “one of the strongest storms of the lowlands is targeting Valencia and Castellón between this afternoon and tonight,” without ruling out the possibility of further downpours in areas already devastated by the previous storm and where clean-up, reconstruction and search for missing persons are still ongoing.
Given the situation on Wednesday, the search for missing people (around twenty still) at sea in Valencia has been suspended.
Meteored explains that “among the most defined models, the possible formation of a storm system with torrential rains is seen during the next night and early morning in the Gulf of Valencia.”
“The exact location cannot be announced yet, but it could be around the city of Valencia, a few kilometres to the north or south,” so “it is advisable to remain alert to official warnings.”
According to official forecasts, from Thursday onwards it is likely that rainfall will again leave between 105 and 120 litres per square metre in 12 hours on the southern and northern coasts of Valencia, as well as in several regions of Malaga.
