Spain floods: Storm Adam kills at least four as thousands evacuated

Torrential rain and flooding in eastern Spain have killed at least four people, forced thousands to evacuate and left tens of thousands of residents under shelter-in-place orders, as emergency crews rescued people stranded on rooftops.

Storm Adam caused rivers to burst their banks and turned streets into torrents along the Mediterranean coast on Monday, cutting off several towns and reviving memories of the floods that killed more than 230 people in the Valencia region in 2024.

Deaths and rescues

Two people died in the town of Oliva on Monday, according to public broadcaster RTVE. Members of Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit found the body of a woman, regional broadcaster A Punt reported, while a man died at a campsite in the town.

Two other women died over the weekend. One was found on a beach in Sagunto, in the Valencia region, and the other was swept away by floodwaters in Cabrera de Mar, near Barcelona.

More than 2,000 people have been evacuated, mainly in Oliva, and the Civil Guard said nearly 100 rescues had been carried out in Valencia and Alicante.

Oliva Deputy Mayor Salvador Llopis told TVE that emergency services were rescuing people trapped in their homes, particularly elderly residents surrounded by waist-deep water. Some had climbed onto tables and furniture to stay above the floodwaters, he said.

In Els Poblets, northeast of Alicante, cars were left piled on top of one another as residents tried to salvage belongings from their flooded homes.

“The village, well, it’s a disaster. Some people have lost everything all over again, just like in 2007, when exactly the same thing happened,” said local chef Javier Fornez.

Exceptional rainfall

Spain’s national weather agency AEMET said Storm Adam had brought exceptional rainfall to the east of the country. Pego, in Alicante province, recorded 632 millimetres of rain in 36 hours, while several places in southern Valencia and northern Alicante received more than 500 millimetres over the same period.

AEMET issued several red alerts, urging residents to avoid travel and seek higher ground.

Regional authorities placed around 800,000 people under shelter-in-place orders on Monday morning, a figure that had fallen to 87,000 across eight municipalities by late afternoon. More than 100,000 students in the Valencia region had their classes suspended.

Storm moves north

The storm was expected to move towards Catalonia on Monday afternoon, particularly the provinces of Barcelona and Girona, where more than 100 millimetres of rain could fall in less than 12 hours. Authorities warned that soil already saturated by previous storms increased the risk of flooding.

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