Spain, Adam dana toll rises to four dead between Valencia and Alicante

The toll from the disturbance that Spaniards call dana Adam rose to four dead on October 19. Two of the victims were found in Oliva, in the province of Valencia, where the most intense rescue efforts are concentrated.

According to emergency services and the Generalitat Valenciana, between 600 and 700 litres of rain per square metre fell in the areas of the southern coast of Valencia and the north of Alicante. This is a massive accumulation, which forced the authorities to order confinement and mobility restrictions in 145 municipalities, spread across the north coast of Alicante and the south coast of Valencia. The measure limits non-essential travel and aims to keep the population away from the areas most exposed to the risk of further flooding.

In Oliva, the hardest-hit municipality, more than a dozen helicopters and around 700 emergency service units are operating, including the Guardia Civil, the Military Emergency Unit and firefighters. The number of vehicles and personnel deployed gives a sense of the scale of the operation under way, which is focused on searching for any missing persons and assisting those displaced in the flooded areas.

The news comes from two distinct and converging sources: the Valencia provincial firefighters’ consortium and government sources cited by El País, and the emergency services together with the Generalitat Valenciana and the Military Emergency Unit cited by RTVE Noticias. Both sources agree on the death toll and on the scale of the rainfall recorded in the affected provinces.

Rescue operations continue while the confinement remains in force in the 145 municipalities affected by the mobility restrictions, with local authorities monitoring the evolution of the disturbance over the Spanish Levante.