Aussies urged to ‘move to a safe location’ following deadly Spanish floods

Aussies urged to ‘move to a safe location’ following deadly Spanish floods
Sofia Geraghty
By Sofia Geraghty


Australians are being urged to “move to a safe location” following severe flooding in Spain’s Valencia region.

More than 200 people have died in Spain, after a year’s worth of rain fell in a matter of hours in the country’s eastern and southern regions. With next to no warning, residents were largely unprepared for the flash flooding.

Located along the Mediterranean coast, Valencia is home to 5 million people and is a tourist hotspot during the European summer months.

More than 217 bodies have been discovered with emergency services still searching for missing people.

Speaking on national TV on Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said “We are almost certainly talking about the most serious flooding our continent has seen so far this century. And I am aware that the response that is being given is not enough,” he said.

Source: Facebook

Locals have criticised the official response, alleging that much of the clean-up operation is being completed by residents and volunteers.

Sánchez and the King and Queen of Spain – King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia – felt the locals’ anger when they had mud thrown at them by angry crowds whilst touring the flood-hit town of Paiporta.

Locals were shouting “Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” as they made their way through the town.

King Felipe later said he understood the locals’ “anger and frustration”.

The Spanish government has now deployed more than 5,000 more soldiers and 5,000 more police to the eastern region of Valencia, following the floods.

Speaking to the ABC, an Australian English teacher living in the region described the flooding as being like a tsunami.

“We heard the boom of the doors of the house being ripped off in front of us and the water just flooding in,” Caroline Doyle said.

“It just looked like the tsunami [in Indonesia] from 2004.”

Whilst the flooding was ankle-deep at 18:30, it was not until 20:00 that locals received text messages from the government telling them not to go outside.

“We were all sent alerts to our cell phones from the government about 8:10pm telling us not to go outside and we looked outside and thought, ‘Well, we can’t go outside, so thank you for telling us,'” Doyle said.

Despite the devastation, Smartraveller has kept Spain’s safety rating as green – meaning ‘exercise normal safety precautions’.

“Severe weather and flooding are affecting parts of Southern and Eastern Spain, particularly the Valencia Region and Castilla La Mancha,” it said. “If you’re in an affected area, move to a safe location, monitor the media and follow the advice of local authorities.”

Travel

Valencia airport was severely impacted after the floods first hit on Tuesday, but has since resumed normal operations.

A runway was flooded with many flights diverted to nearby cities such as Barcelona.

Travellers struggled to get to the airport itself after many roads and other forms of transport were blocked due to the flooding.

On X, Valencia Airport, told travellers to check the status of their flight with the airline before travelling.

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