CATASTROPHIC flooding has forced authorities to issue mandatory confinement orders for 145 municipalities across Alicante and Valencia.
Historic rainfall from Storm Adam dumped more than 700mm of rain on the region in less than 36 hours, causing the Girona and Benissa rivers to burst their banks and trapping hundreds of residents on the roofs of their homes.
The extraordinary emergency measures affect some of Spain’s most densely populated expat hubs along the Costa Blanca and Valencia coastlines, including Javea, Denia, Calp and Gandia.
The Military Emergencies Unit (UME) and rescue helicopters have been deployed to reach people trapped in their flooded properties, with the worst-hit areas completely cut off by road.
The regional government’s order has legally restricted mobility across 78 towns in Valencia and 67 in Alicante, instructing everyone to stay indoors, avoid ground-floor premises and move to upper levels.
Emergency minister Juan Carlos Valderrama urged the public to stay off the roads as emergency services deal with nearly 800 incidents.
He said: “Please, confinement.”
In the Alicante town of Pego, residents have been forced onto their roofs in the marshland area while awaiting aerial rescue.
Enrique Moll, the local mayor, told regional broadcaster A Punt Radio that ‘even heavy vehicles are getting stuck because access to the town is complicated’.
READ MORE: Body of woman swept away by flooded stream near Barcelona found at sea
Further south in Els Poblets, the town hall issued a desperate warning after the Girona river overflowed directly into the streets.
The torrential rain dumped a staggering 131.9mm of water on Oliva beach in just a single hour.
Officials warned residents ‘not to attempt to cross flooded streets or paths, neither on foot nor in a vehicle’.
An emergency ES-Alert was sent to mobile phones across the Marina Alta and Safor areas at 7am.
Pilar Bernabe, the central government’s delegate in Valencia, warned that the danger posed by overflowing rivers and ravines is ‘extraordinary’ as multiple rescue operations get underway.
The Valencian meteorology association, AVAMET, recorded historic rainfall peaking at 720mm in Forna and 693mm in Pego between Saturday and Monday morning.
The crisis has been escalated to a Situation 2 emergency, meaning the disaster has outgrown local resources and requires state and military intervention.
Two people died in storm-related incidents in Sagunto and Barcelona on Sunday, though no fatalities have yet been confirmed from Monday’s coastal floods.
Click here to read more Weather News from The Olive Press.
