In brief
Southern and eastern Spain experienced an extreme weather event this week, with up to a month's worth of rainfall falling in just 24 hours, causing widespread flooding, property damage, and agricultural destruction.
On Monday night, as torrential rain started to fall, Manuel Yerai, a farmer from El Ejido in Andalusia, witnessed his crops being battered by hail the size of tennis balls. "My greenhouses look like they had been shot at," he lamented, sharing the extent of the damage to his land and nearby areas. Cities such as Valencia, Murcia, and Malaga also suffered from this calamity, with reports indicating rainfall levels reaching 150 to 200 liters per square meter in some locations—a staggering four times the regional average for the month of October. The Spanish meteorological agency has described the situation as one of "extreme danger," urging residents to avoid non-essential travel as precipitation is expected to continue until at least Thursday. The dire impact of the weather includes flooded streets, damaged vehicles, and the tragic loss of wildlife, with deceased sparrows littering the ground. Meteorologists forecast that the threat of further heavy rain remains imminent, posing ongoing challenges for recovery in the affected communities.
