Spain reports 62 dead after one of century's worst storms

More than 60 people died as eastern Spain was hit by one of the worst storms in decades on Tuesday night.

The storm is “one of the three strongest in the last century in the region of Valencia,” the Spanish weather agency said Wednesday in a post on X. Emergency services worked all night to rescue people as flooding blocked traffic on highways and communications services collapsed.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez convened a government crisis committee on Wednesday. “We will help you with all the state’s resources,” he said in a speech.

Lawmakers gathered in Parliament in Madrid suspended their session mid-morning to show support for the region.

“This is an unprecedented situation, nobody has seen anything like this,” Valencia’s regional President Carlos Mazon said. The regional government said 62 people had been reported dead as of 12:15 p.m. local time.

Valencia has a history of rain disasters, with one storm in the late 1950s killing more than 80 people. But this week’s death toll makes the current storm the largest natural disaster in Spain’s recent history.

On Wednesday morning, train services were stopped to and from Valencia, highways were blocked and rescue teams continued to help scores of people who were trapped in cars and on top of vehicles and buildings.

Ford Motor Co. halted production at its Almussafes plant in the region and canceled all shifts because of the storm, according to a company spokesman. Production is due to restart on Nov. 11.

While other parts of Spain were affected by the storm, the intensity of rainfall is expected to be lower.

Valencia is the fourth largest of Spain’s 17 regions, with five million people. It’s a large producer of oranges and rice, and one of the country’s main tourist destinations during the summer season.

This kind of storm, known in Spain as a Dana, develops “as a result of cooler air passing over the warm Mediterranean ocean, creating atmospheric instability and bringing with it torrential rain,” said Jess Neumann, associate professor of hydrology at the University of Reading. “These types of storms can develop quickly and with relatively short warning.”

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(With assistance from Jessica Shankleman and Clara Hernanz Lizarraga.)