Flash floods in Spain have killed at least 95 people as one year’s rainfall fell in eight hours in the worst natural disaster to hit the country in recent memory.
Rainstorms started Tuesday and continued Wednesday caused flooding across southern and eastern Spain, from Malaga in the south to Valencia farther east.
Torrents of water overturned or upended vehicles at high speeds as debris and household items swirled in the muddy water. Police and rescue services lifted people from their homes by helicopter and rubber boats were sent to motorists stranded on top of their cars.
Romania’s Foreign Ministry said 13 Romanians were missing from the flooded areas, updating an earlier figure of five Romanians missing.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Romanian Consulate in Castellón de la Plana, is checking information regarding the reporting of the disappearance of 13 Romanian citizens. The consular office is in permanent contact with the Spanish authorities, amd checks are ongoing,” the ministry said in a press release on Wednesday evening.
A number of heads of state have offered to support Spain and during the day, European leaders joined in offering their support to the flood-hit communities.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “solidarity” with those affected and guaranteed France’s “availability” to assist with relief operations.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni echoed the French president saying her thoughts are “with the families of the victims”.
Austria chancellor Karl Nehammer, whose country was rocked by flooding only last month, wrote on X: “Our thoughts and our solidarity go out to the Spanish people and the emergency services who are working around the clock.”
There are some 645,000 Romanians living in Spain, the country’s largest migrant community after Moroccans.
