Heavy flooding has cut off villages and forced residents onto rooftops on the stretch of Spain’s east coast between Valencia and Alicante – the region Dutch people most often choose for autumn holidays and home to the largest concentration of Dutch immigrants and holiday-home owners, RTL reports. At least four people have died in the storms.
In places between Valencia and Alicante, 700 millimeters of rain fell in 10 hours – roughly what the Netherlands receives in an entire year. The mayor of Pego said residents “have fled onto their roofs and are waiting for help from the air.” The village was cut off; emergency crews with heavy equipment could not reach Oliva or neighboring Pego because the water was too deep.
In the municipality of Jávea, roughly 70 percent of homes for sale are bought by Dutch people. Therefore, on top of the regular tourists, many also come during the holidays to visit family members.
Fred Smit, who has lived with his wife in Jávea for four years, said he had never seen such extreme weather. “People were stuck on the mountain slopes because everything below is flooded and cut off,” he told De Telegraaf. “Stones, boulders, trees – you name it. It’s a very strange situation.”
“At one point water came into the house here, and a lot of restaurants and basements flooded,” he said. “The houses are full of water, but people are already cleaning up. Here in the living room it’s just towels on the floor and mopping, trying to get everything dry again.”
About 10 kilometers farther on in Dénia, John de Bruid said he and his family had been in Valencia the day before in beautiful weather. By Sunday morning, the rain intensified, pools and gardens overflowed, and roads flooded.
“We’re about 80 meters from the sea. Luckily we have a high terrace,” he told De Telegraaf. He added that he has bags ready and is waiting to leave on Tuesday, while his son has been playing in the water flowing through the streets.
At the Dutch bar Casa Holandesa in Jávea’s harbor, conditions were relatively manageable, the owner, Nancy, told RTL. However, the Arenal neighborhood – home to most of Jávea’s Dutch residents – was reportedly hit much worse.
“My husband just went to check on people we know in the neighborhood,” she said. “He was standing up on his knees in water. The water entered the house there. It has dried up now, but water inside the house is not draining.”
From 400,000 to 850,000 residents of the area between Alicante and Valencia have been ordered to stay indoors. Emergency Minister Juan Carlos Valderrama described an “extremely intense downpour” and said many people are in distress. There, evacuation happens for those who are estimated to be in serious danger. A lockdown is in place for everyone else.
Conditions are reportedly worst in the villages of Oliva and Pego, which are about 50 miles south of Valencia. The bodies of a woman, around 80 years old, and a 64-year-old man have been recovered. Two more people have died over the weekend, including a 55-year-old Romanian woman who went swimming near Valencia with a 71-year-old Dutch man. He reached the shore, but the woman did not survive.
The flooding is driven by Storm Adam, found when cold air aloft collided with still-warm Mediterranean water. It is expected to move north toward Catalonia later on Monday, bringing thunderstorms, hail, strong winds, and a risk of tornadoes.
