Severe weather warnings have been issued for Spain after torrential rains swept away cars and rivers burst their banks. At least four people have been killed, with the Valencia region placed on red alert.
Advertisement
Deadly storms batter Spain
Torrential storms in Spain have destroyed homes, swept away cars, and left three dead. Entire towns are under water after the worst rains in 100 years.
Image: Reuters/Batalleta
To the rescue
A rescue crew carries a victim through the raging flood waters in southeastern Spain. Three people lost their lives in the recent flooding. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez thanked emergency service crews for their work minimizing the effects of the floods.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Atlas
Floodwaters in Valencia
The floodwaters completely submerge automobiles and surge into the ground floor of homes in Ontinyent, Spain. Schools in 84 districts of Valencia were closed due to flooding, affecting over 255,000 pupils.
Image: Reuters/Batalleta
Downed by the storm
Fallen tree branches lay in the street after a storm in Guardamar des Segura. Heavy storms hit the eastern coast of Spain every year during the transition from summer to fall. The regions of Alicante and Albacete were badly affected along with Valencia.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Grimao
Deadly waters
A car overturned by floodwaters in Albacete, Spain. A couple died in the accident caused by the heavy flooding. Another man was killed when his car became trapped in a tunnel that filled with water.
Image: Reuters TV/Altas
The storm of the century
Floodwaters flow through the streets in Ontinyent, Spain, partially submerging houses. The town was completely engulfed by the flooding after the nearby Clariano River overflowed. At 300 millimeters, it was the heaviest rainfall the town had seen since 1917.
Image: Reuters/Batalleta
5 images1 | 5
Spain was bracing for more severe weather on Friday after a day of flooding and high winds turned deadly.
A 61-year-old man and his 51-year-old sister died when their vehicle was swept away in the fast-moving floodwaters. The accident occurred in the municipality of Caudete, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of the city of Valencia. A third man died when his car was trapped in a tunnel in Almeria that filled with water. A 36-year-old man was killed when his car submerged in the town of Jamula
The local AVAMET weather service shared footage of cars being swept away.
It also showed torrents of water engulfing the nearby town of Ontinyent, after the Clariano River burst its banks in the heaviest rainfall since agency records began in 1917.
"We had 300 millimeters of rain. We haven't seen that for a century," Jorge Rodriguez, mayor of Ontinyent, told Spanish public broadcaster TVE.
Europe melts under heat wave
France topped its all-time heat record, a wildfire is burning up forests in northeastern Spain, and multiple countries have issued health alerts. How is Europe dealing with this blast of hot weather?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H.-C. Dittrich
New record in France
A pharmacy sign in Carpentras, a village in southeastern France, which shortly held the country's all-time heat record of 44.3 degrees on Friday. The record was topped again later in the afternoon in the southern village of Villevieille, 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the east, which measured a thermometer-busting 45.1 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).
Image: Getty Images/AFP/P. Valasseris
Scorched forests in Catalonia, Spain
Local authorities said that improperly stored chicken dung at a farm in rural northeastern Spain spontaneously combusted in the extreme heat on Wednesday, unleashing a wildfire that continued to burn on into Friday. Temperatures in the area around the fire reached 41 Celsius on Friday (106 Fahrenheit), as more than 600 firefighters battle the blaze.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/P. Barrena
Hot in the city of love
Denizens of Paris cool down in the Trocadero esplanade. Pavement absorbs heat and takes longer to cool off, which makes cities feel even hotter during a heat wave. Air conditioning is also uncommon in many cities in northern Europe, which can make being indoors unbearable, as buildings trap the heat. A 2003 heatwave in France killed 15,000 people.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/B. Samuel
Homeless at risk in Italy
A volunteer hands water to a homeless man in Milan, Italy, where the mercury has topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in recent days. A heat wave alert was issued Friday in Milan, and an elderly homeless man reportedly died from heatstroke in a park near city's main train station. The extreme temperatures in Italy are expected to ease over the weekend.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP/L. Bruno
River bathing in Munich
Bathers lounge on the rocky banks of the Isar river in Munich on Thursday. Last weekend, dozens of women who were bathing topless on the Isar were ordered by police to cover up, sparking a debate on public nudity. Nude beaches are common throughout Germany. The banks of the Isar should be full this weekend, with temperatures in Munich expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Kneffel
Sorbet for polar bears
A polar bear cools off at the Hanover Zoo in Germany with a frozen sorbet. Zookeepers across Europe have been helping animals beat the heat with mixtures of fruit frozen in ice. Polar bears are also given frozen fish. On Thursday, France banned the transportation of live animals due to the extreme temperatures.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H.-C. Dittrich
Sahara heat in Europe
A weather pattern that has stuck over Europe for almost a week is channeling extremely hot air from the Sahara desert northward. The World Meteorological Association said 2019 is on track to be one of the hottest years on record, and that heatwaves like the one currently scorching Europe are projected to happen more frequently.
Image: picture-alliance/united-archives/mcphoto
7 images1 | 7
Red alert
The Valencia region has been placed on red alert, with authorities saying they had ordered the closure of schools in 84 districts, affecting more than 255,000 pupils. Officials in neighboring Murcia also ordered the closure of all schools into Friday.
Gardening in times of climate change
The region of Alicante and the province of Albacete were also badly affected.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said emergency services were working to minimize the effects.
"Our thanks for their work and all our solidarity with the thousands of people affected by torrential rains," Sanchez tweeted.
Heavy rain and storms often hit Spain's eastern coast as summer gives way to autumn — a phenomenon known locally as "la gota fria"(the cold drop) or DANA (isolated high altitude depression). This occurs when warm air saturated with water from the Mediterranean rises to form huge columns of cloud.