Dramatic new photographs have revealed the extent of the damage to cars in Valencia that were swept away by deadly floods late last month that killed more than 200 people.
Nearly 100 people remain missing following the flooding, which began after devastating rains fell in eastern Spain on October 28.
In a town on the outskirts of the city of Valencia, Chiva, more rain fell in eight hours than in the previous 20 months.
The floods severely affected the region’s infrastructure and swept away countless cars in their wake.
The snapshots, taken at a scrapyard on the outskirts of the Valencian town of Paiporta, show rows and rows of vehicles still covered in mud stacked on top of each other. Many of them are missing important parts, including engine blocks, windshields, and entire doors.
An aerial shot showed an ambulance, its roof dented and covered in mud, buried beneath an Opel coupe.
Nearly 100 people remain missing following the flooding, which began after devastating rains fell in eastern Spain on October 28.
The floods seriously affected the region’s infrastructure and swept away countless cars in their wake.
The snapshots, taken at a scrapyard on the outskirts of the Valencian town of Paiporta, show rows and rows of cars still covered in mud stacked on top of each other.
The stacks held up to six vehicles each, with the bottom carriages often being the most severely damaged.
Even though the flooding subsided, the junkyard itself was still flooded, and many of the vehicles were left corroded in pools of shallow, stagnant water.
The Spanish Insurance Consortium, a public-private entity that pays insurance claims for extreme risks such as floods, said it had received 44,000 claims for motor vehicles damaged by floods, and the number is expected to rise as more and more people return to their homes.
Spaniards are up in arms over the response of the regional and national governments to the floods.
Some 130,000 people took to the streets of Valencia on Saturday to protest against the authorities.
Even though the flooding subsided, the junkyard itself was still flooded, and many of the vehicles were left corroded in pools of shallow, stagnant water.
The stacks held up to six vehicles each, and the bottom cars were often the most severely damaged.
Many of them are missing important parts, including engine blocks, windshields, and entire doors.
Protesters, accusing those responsible of issuing warnings too late, chanted: “We are stained with mud, you are stained with blood.”
By the time authorities sent alerts to mobile phones, warning Spaniards to stay home, many had already taken to roads that were soon submerged in water, greatly increasing their risk of death.
Anna Oliver, one of the protest organizers, told Reuters: “We want to show our outrage and anger at the mismanagement of this disaster that has affected so many people.”
Protesters also clashed with police towards the end of the weekend demonstrations and smeared mud on Valencia City Hall.
The city’s mayor, María José Catalá, posted photos of broken glass and a video that appeared to show a fire on social media, adding: “Vandalism is not the solution.”
A view of wrecked cars stored in a scrapyard on the outskirts of Paiporta after they were damaged by floods in Valencia, Spain, November 10, 2024.
The region remains in crisis following the floods, which have claimed 223 lives and some people are still missing.
Graffiti is seen on the facade of the town hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia regional president Carlos Mazón in Valencia on November 9, 2024.
Valencia City Council condemned the “vandalism” and stated that the city had also been affected by the flooding.
Scientists trying to explain what happened see two likely connections to human-caused climate change.
One is that warmer air holds and then sheds more rain. The other is possible changes in the jet stream (the river of air above the Earth that moves weather systems around the world) that generate extreme weather conditions.
Climate scientists and meteorologists said the immediate cause of the flooding is a low-pressure storm system that migrated from an unusually wavy and stagnant jet stream.
That system simply parked itself over the region and poured rain. This happens so often that in Spain they call them DANA, the Spanish acronym for the system, meteorologists said.
Protesters confront police in front of the town hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia regional president Carlos Mazón in Valencia on November 9, 2024.
Protesters kick at the entrance of the town hall as a flare is lit during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia regional president Carlos Mazón in Valencia on November 9, 2024.
And then there is the unusually high temperature of the Mediterranean Sea. It had its warmest surface temperature on record in mid-August, 28.47 degrees Celsius (83.25 degrees Fahrenheit), said Carola Koenig of the Center for Flood Risk and Resilience at Brunel University London.
The extreme weather event came after Spain battled prolonged droughts in 2022 and 2023. Experts say drought and flood cycles are increasing with climate change.
“Climate change kills and now, unfortunately, we are seeing it first-hand,” said Spanish President Pedro Sánchez after announcing an aid package of 10.6 billion euros for 78 municipalities.