AT least four people have died after the first named storm of the season made landfall, triggering torrential rainfall and widespread flooding along Spain’s Mediterranean coast.
Historic rainfall totals were recorded along the Costa Blanca and Valencia coastlines as Storm Adam wreaked havoc in some of Spain’s most densely populated expat hubs.
Pego in Alicante recorded a staggering 620.6mm of rainfall in just 24 hours – nearing the all-time record of 817mm set in Oliva in 1987.
Records were also broken in the Balearic Islands, with the weather station at Ibiza Airport registering its highest 24-hour figure since measurements began in 1944.
A woman drowned after reportedly going skinny dipping at Sagunt on Sunday evening, while a 79-year-old woman was found dead in her ground-floor home in Oliva on Monday morning by the Military Emergency Unit (UME).
A 64-year-old man also died after suffering a cardiac arrest, with his body discovered at the Eurocamping campsite in Oliva.
Local reports said the severe flooding in the area had prevented him from receiving proper medical attention.
Another death was reported in Barcelona, bringing the total number of fatalities linked to Storm Adam to four.
The 35-year-old victim, from Malgrat de Mar, was leaving the town’s sports pavilion when she attempted to cross a stream but was dramatically swept away.
READ MORE: Body of woman swept away by flooded stream near Barcelona found at sea
Her body was located out at sea at around 11am on Monday.
At the height of the emergency, some 145 municipalities were placed under confinement orders as authorities urged residents and visitors to stay indoors and avoid flooded roads.
By Monday afternoon, restrictions had been lifted in most areas, but eight municipalities remained under confinement.
They include Bellreguard, Daimus, Miramar, Oliva and Piles in Valencia province and Xabia, Pego and Els Poblets in Alicante.
Roads remained impassable in some areas, while around 15 helicopters and 700 emergency personnel – including the UME, Guardia Civil and firefighters – were deployed to assist residents and carry out rescues.
Among those saved was a 93-year-old woman evacuated from her home in Gandia after it was swamped by 1.5 metres of floodwater.
A family of four were also dramatically rescued after their motorhome was swept away in Pego.
In Oliva, around 130 people were housed in a municipal shelter while rescue teams focused their efforts on seven campsites described by the town’s mayor as among the worst-affected areas.
Valencian president Juanfran Perez Llorca called for a ‘great deal of patience’ as emergency services continued their work.
Writing on X, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Today I have spoken with the president of the Valencian Community and the president of the Balearic Islands to convey to them my full support of the government of Spain in the face of the consequences of Storm Adam.
“UME personnel are collaborating in the rescue and evacuation efforts for people, and we place at their disposal all the human and material resources that may be necessary.”
Sanchez paid a visit to the national emergency coordination centre in Madrid, while interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska cut short a trip to Qatar to return to Spain.
The storm’s worst effects are now expected to shift north towards Catalunya, with state meteorological agency Aemet warning that 100mm of rain could fall in less than 12 hours across parts of Barcelona and Girona.
The warning comes just two weeks after previous storms drenched the region, leaving the ground saturated and prone to further flooding.
Forecasters do not expect conditions to reach the same extremes seen in Valencia and Alicante but are urging residents to remain vigilant and follow official advice, with Aemet issuing orange alerts across much of the region.
Lower-level yellow alerts remain in place across the Costa Blanca until midnight on Monday as the storm begins to die down, with warnings also active across Andalucia.
Video circulating online showed torrents of floodwater rushing through streets and submerging cars in the neighbourhood of El Palo in Malaga in the early hours of Monday.
Some residents likened the hair-raising scenes to the floods of 1989, when prolonged rainfall caused rivers and streams in the city to burst their banks, leaving eight people dead and more than 550 families homeless.
Storm Adam, the first named DANA of the season, is being driven by two pockets of cold air developing around the Iberian Peninsula – one around the Bay of Biscay and another near the Gulf of Cadiz.
A DANA occurs when a pocket of cold air becomes isolated high in the atmosphere, triggering intense rainfall and thunderstorms when it meets warmer, moisture-laden air below.
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