Rescue operations continue in Spain, which is suffering its worst flood disaster in decades, with at least 95 people dead and dozens missing. At the same time, questions are being raised about how one of the world’s most developed nations failed to adequately respond to an extreme storm.

“We continue to work non-stop in collaboration with the rest of the emergency services in Valencia,” Spain’s police said in a post, releasing video footage of the flooded areas from above.

There are fears that the death toll will rise as “there are many missing people”, according to the government. Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities today issued a new storm warning for part of the region of Valencia, in eastern Spain

Defense Minister Margarita Robles told Cadena Ser radio station that a military unit specializing in rescue operations would begin Thursday to “comb” mud and debris with sniffer dogs in the worst-hit areas. The rescue operations are now “going to the second stage”, which consists of locating the missing, Ms Robles noted last night, pointing out that their number remains “unknown”.

Asked if the death toll was likely to rise, she said: “Unfortunately we are not optimistic.”

Nearly a thousand soldiers have been deployed in the field, mainly in the Valencia region, alongside firefighters, police and rescue workers who are searching for survivors and struggling to clear the affected areas of debris.

According to the latest tally released by the authorities, the dead amount to 95, of which 92 are in the community of Valencia, which is the one worst hit by the flash floods. The other two people who died were in the neighboring region of Castile-La Mancha, and the third in Andalusia.

The teams have brought with them 50 mobile morgues, as reported by the Guardian.

According to El pais, the president of the Generalitat of Valencia announced an aid plan with which the community will mobilize 250 million euros, including 6,000 euros in direct aid to each affected.

Torrential rain on Tuesday caused flash floods that washed away bridges and buildings and forced people to climb onto roofs or trees to survive.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who declared three days of national mourning, was expected to fly to Valencia at 10:30 local time (11:30 Greek time) to visit the Rescue Coordination Center (Cecopi).

As the BBC reports, the flood death toll is the country’s worst since 1973, when at least 150 people are estimated to have died in the country’s worst ever floods.

In his speech on Wednesday, the Spanish prime minister urged citizens to remain vigilant and pledged full recovery, telling the victims: “All of Spain cries with you … we will not abandon you.”

One of the first affected towns near Valencia, Chiva, reported a year’s worth of rain on Tuesday in just eight hours, according to national weather service Aemet.

Warnings from the weather service

Today the weather was mild in the worst-hit areas around the city of Valencia, Spain’s third largest, but the weather service Aemet issued the highest level of alert for the province of Castile. Further north in Catalonia, an “orange alert” was issued for the city of Tarragona.

“There are already very strong storms in the area, especially in northern Castile,” Aemet said in a post on her X account. “The bad weather continues! Be careful!”, he adds, calling on people to avoid traveling in this area.

The floods in Valencia also caused massive damage to the region’s infrastructure, sweeping away bridges, roads, railways and submerging buildings after rivers overflowed.

Citizens without electricity

As of dawn today, thousands of people were still without power in the region, according to emergency services. Many roads also remained blocked, while countless damaged cars swept away by the waters lay on roads that were littered with mud and debris.

According to the authorities, one of the worst affected areas is Paiporta, in the southern suburbs of Valencia, where around forty people, including a mother and her three-month-old baby, died when they were swept away by the current.

Valencia district chief Carlos Mantón said last night that rescue crews carried out “200 ground rescue operations and 70 air rescue operations” with helicopters during the day.

He also clarified that rescue services managed to reach all the affected areas, although many villages remained cut off from the rest of the country for much of yesterday.

Over 300 liters of water per square meter

According to the meteorological service Aemet, more than 300 liters of water per square meter fell on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in several towns in the Valencia region, with a peak of 491 liters in the small village of Chiva. This quantity corresponds “to one year’s rains”, he clarified.

“We were trapped like mice”

As the Spanish military and emergency personnel rushed to carry out rescues on Wednesday morning – including carrying people to safety from balconies and car roofs – survivors in Valencia recounted the horror of Tuesday night’s flooding.

Residents in southeastern Spain described how the water seemed to move like a tsunami, sweeping away everything in its path.

“I never thought I would experience something like this,” Eliou Sanchez, a resident of Sendavi, a community of 10,000 that was swept away by the floods, told AFP, describing a nightmarish night.

“We saw a young man in the middle of nowhere who had taken refuge on the roof of his car,” says the 32-year-old electrician. He “tried to jump” onto another car, but was “taken” by the current.

The mayor of Utiel, Ricardo Gabaldón, told Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE that Tuesday was the worst day of his life. “We were trapped like rats,” he said. “Cars and garbage cans were rolling on the streets. The water rose to 3 meters.”

The merry-go-round of mutual accusations – “Floods of the century”

The Spanish press, which characterizes this bad weather as the “floods of the century”, began to question the reaction of the Authorities.

It is reported that in many cases, civil protection authorities sprung into action with warnings, meaning people could not be trapped on flooded roads or seek higher ground.

The civil protection service, did not issue a warning by 8:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday – but by then, Chiva and several other towns had already been flooded for at least two hours.

Spain deployed more than 1,000 troops to help rescue efforts on Wednesday, but many rescuers could not reach towns because of flooded roads and damaged communication lines and power outages.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said Copernicus had been activated to help coordinate Spanish rescue teams. Other European neighbors have also offered to send aid and reinforcements.

“An unprecedented phenomenon.”

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday that the flooding across the region was “an unprecedented phenomenon”.

Rain eased in the country’s center-east on Wednesday, but weather officials warned the rain was moving north-east towards the Catalonia region.

Weather warnings have also been issued in many other parts of the country, urging people to prepare for flooding and seek shelter.

Scientists have warned for years that extreme weather events such as heat waves and storms are becoming more intense and more frequent due to climate change.

“These flash floods in Spain are another terrible reminder of climate change and its chaotic nature,” said Jess Neumann, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading in Britain.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but the warming of the atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall events more likely.

Meteorological researchers identified the likely main cause of the heavy rainfall as the so-called ‘gota fria’ – a natural weather phenomenon that hits Spain in autumn and winter, when cold air descends over warmer waters over the Mediterranean.

However, rising global temperatures have resulted in clouds bringing more rain, scientists told the BBC.

“With every fraction of a degree of fossil fuel warming, the atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall,” said Dr Friederike Otto, of Imperial College London, who leads an international team of scientists trying to understand the role that heating plays in such phenomena.

“There’s no doubt about it, these heavy rainfalls have been intensified by climate change.”

The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial age began, and temperatures will continue to rise unless governments around the world take action to reduce emissions.