(CLO) At least 158 people have died and many others remain missing this week due to flash floods likened to "a deluge", after heavy rains hit the eastern Spanish province of Valencia on Tuesday.
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Video of the horrific impact of flash floods in Valencia, Spain (source: AP)
It is one of the worst floods Spain has seen in decades. Satellite images released by the European Space Agency show the scale of the devastation.
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Video of the horrific impact of flash floods in Valencia, Spain (source: Reuters)
Before and after satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies show widespread devastation across the Valencia province (source: Business Insider).
As of Thursday, about 300 people remained cut off from rescue routes due to damaged roads, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
This before-and-after photo shows a motorway in Valencia, Spain damaged by flooding this week. Satellite image: Maxar Technologies
Floodwaters have overturned cars, flooded highways, cut off major roads and damaged homes. Some people were forced to run to their rooftops to await rescue.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Thursday that the government had deployed more than 1,800 police, 750 civil police and 200 soldiers to assist in rescue and recovery efforts.
Other images show the terrible devastation of the "cataclysmic" flash flood in Spain (source: Reuters, AP, WP)
According to weather forecasters, the storm is so severe because warm air rises rapidly to form large clouds that can then cause torrential rain.
Unexpected heavy rains are becoming a more serious problem around the world as global temperatures rise, largely because warmer air holds more moisture.
In a phenomenon some scientists call “weather variability,” many areas of the planet are swinging wildly between extreme droughts and severe floods.
As the planet warms over the coming decades, droughts and rains are likely to become more severe. That’s one of many reasons scientists are calling on companies, countries and industries to drastically cut carbon emissions.
Hoang Anh (according to Business Insider, NYT, Reuters)
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