A severe flooding took place last Tuesday to Wednesday 29-30/10 in southern and eastern Spain causing at least 100 people to lose their lives, while dozens are missing and properties have been destroyed. The Spanish government has also decreed three days of official mourning, starting on Thursday.
A year’s worth of rain in a few hours: this severe event brought 200-350mm of rain locally in a few southeastern areas of Spain with the most affected areas Valencia, Chiva and Malaga. In just a few hours a year’s worth of rain fell with Chiva (a city near Valencia) reaching 320mm of rain. To understand better, imagine that the Valencia area averages 70-80 mm the month of October. This weather event registered as the worst rainfall Valencia has seen in 28 years.
What caused this event? The severe flooding was caused by a “gota fría,” or cold drop as the Spanish are calling it and it is a pool of cool air high in the atmosphere that can separate from the jet stream, causing it to move slowly and often lead to severe weather events with heavy rainfall. This phenomenon is in general common in autumn, but this time was severe because the Mediterranean Sea reached its highest on record temperature in August and the warm seas can influence and produce stronger storms. When was the last time Spain experienced severe flooding? In 1959, 144 people were killed by a flood in Ribadelago, but that disaster was caused by the failure of a dam, releasing water from the Vega de Tera reservoir, rather than a natural event. However, in 1996 a severe flooding caused 87 people to lose their lives near the town of Biescas in the Pyrenees mountains and this was a natural event, a situation really close to the event. Spain has seen severe weather events but not as significant as this event, making it one of the deadliest floods Spain have seen in decades. A similar flooding event has been recorded in Germany and Belgium in 2021, which caused 230 people to lose their lives.
Many could say that these photos remind them of severe events (like hurricanes) in America. Day after day severe events are becoming more frequent and severe as a result of climate change.