Aerial photographs have revealed the apocalyptic scale of the destruction caused by the Valencia floods, as the death toll from the disaster reached 158 this afternoon.
Images taken on Thursday show vandalized and abandoned cars on roads smeared with brown mud and other debris.
“Unfortunately there are dead people inside some vehicles,” warned today the Minister of Transport of Spain, Óscar Puente.
Parts of the Valencia region in eastern Spain were inundated with more than a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours on Tuesday, causing monstrous flash floods.
The torrents of water destroyed entire towns and a An unknown number of people remain missing and the death toll is expected to rise.
Aerial photographs have revealed the apocalyptic scale of the destruction caused by the Valencia floods
Aerial image showing mud-stained roads near Valencia covered with smashed cars and other debris.
A boat is stranded in a field after flash floods in the Valencian Community
An aerial photograph shows the destroyed rice fields of Albufera in an area affected by heavy rains
A 71-year-old British man suffering from hypothermia was identified as one of the dead on Wednesday afternoon.
Walls of running water turned narrow streets into death traps and generated rivers that destroyed the ground floors of houses and devastated everything in their path.
The aftermath, which has seen streets packed with vehicles and water rushing down normally busy roads, appears eerily similar to the damage caused by a strong hurricane or tsunami.
Wrecked vehicles, tree branches, downed power lines and household items, all covered in a layer of mud, littered the streets of Utiel, just one of dozens of cities in the region hardest hit.
Police revealed today that looters have taken advantage of the catastrophic flooding, robbing abandoned shops of high-value goods such as computers, mobile phones and perfumes.
Thirty-nine suspects have so far been arrested in the Valencia region as the Civil Guard continues to crack down on people hoping to profit from the chaos.
Meanwhile, desperate families have resorted to taking food and water from supermarkets, with heartbreaking images showing children rummaging through the aisles of vandalized food stores.
Aerial view shows abandoned cars on the roads of the Valencian Community on October 31.
People stand next to stranded cars after flooding in Valencia, Spain, on October 31, 2024.
The image shows an area affected by heavy rains that caused flooding near Valencia
A woman looks at a mud-covered road and damaged houses in the flood-affected municipality of Chiva, near Valencia, Spain, on October 31, 2024.
The army has been contracted to manage the search and rescue operation and 1,000 members of the Spanish Armed Forces were mobilized yesterday.
A terrifying clip shows an entire bridge in Valencia washed away by floods.
The Paiporta bridge, in the town of the same name, was completely devastated when the river below overflowed its banks and continued to rise.
Horrified onlookers watched in horror as the concrete structure crumbled in the deluge.
The scenes in Paiporta, where at least one baby was counted among the dead, are among many that have been captured by locals.
Rainfall in the Valencia town of Chiva reached a staggering 491 liters per square meter on Tuesday, according to Spain’s meteorological agency.
The city, just 32 kilometers west of Valencia, endured this amount of rain in just eight hours: the typical amount of rain seen in a full year and an “extraordinary accumulation,” the agency added.
Another clip revealed the moment a helpless woman was swept away by an unstoppable flood.
The unidentified victim could be heard screaming as the deluge pushed her down a flooded street.
Abandoned cars on a mud-stained road near Valencia
Debris scattered across a train track after flooding in the Valencia region
Aerial photo shows an area affected by heavy rains that caused flooding near Valencia
Many people in the city have even been forced to climb trees, climb lampposts and desperately run to the upper floors of buildings to escape.
Horrified viewers were on the balconies above and stretched out their arms in a futile attempt to rescue her in the chilling clip.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is heading to the region to witness the destruction firsthand as the nation begins a three-day period of official mourning.
Valencia remained partially isolated today with several roads closed and train lines interrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid, which according to authorities will not be repaired for several days.
It comes as a British woman yesterday described how she miraculously escaped Valencia’s deadly floods by climbing out of her car window before it was swept away.
Karen Loftus, 62, from Dorset, said she and her husband are lucky to be alive after they made the decision to ditch their car, which could save their lives.
The couple were heading south on the AP-7 motorway towards their home in Alicante on Tuesday afternoon when they were hit by a deluge of rain.
Ms Loftus, chief executive of the UK-based charity Community Action Network, said the next thing they saw was a bridge in front of them being washed away.
She told Sky News that within ten minutes of standing still, “the water had risen and started coming into the car”.
The pressure meant that they could not open the doors of the vehicle, so they decided to escape through the windows.
These images from the US Landsat-8 satellite vividly illustrate the magnitude of the disaster, with images from October 8 and 30 showing the dramatic transformation of the landscape.
Pedestrians stand next to cars piled up after deadly flooding in Sedavi, south of Valencia, eastern Spain, on October 30, 2024.
Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024.
BEFORE: Satellite image shows Valencia on October 13, before the deluge of rain
AFTER: Satellite image shows severe flooding in Valencia on October 30 after heavy rain
Workers try to restore power supply to residents of the flood-affected city of Torrent, Valencia province, Spain, October 31, 2024.
People stand next to stranded cars after flooding in Valencia, Spain, on October 31, 2024.
“Just after we got out of the car, another car floated on top of our car,” Mrs Loftus said, adding that the water level had already reached their chests.
The couple managed to take shelter inside a truck, but “lost everything” in the disaster, including their car and some belongings dating back 20 years.