Floods in Spain. 51 dead.

Every year this happens to some degree. It’s called the Gota Fria and one year our villa in a Spanish village was almost destroyed by it. Our main concern was our Cattery. People arrived with their cats because we were higher up the hill and we weren’t happy to take them. My husband got stuck in and was up to his waist in water and petrified our swimming pool might give way under the pressure, drowning all the cats beneath the pool but luckily it started to ease off just in time and our villa and cats survived.

My DS and family live a bit further south than Valencia. They have already had flooding in the town (he lives in the countryside) but are on red alert for tonight. After that he said the rain should stop. I am hoping it will not be as bad as they are predicting.
The poor people of Valencia. The pictures are quite shocking.

Hope he’s okay Cath9. 🤞

My poor brother lives very near Valencia.
He is usually a tough guy but with the storm he mentioned it was scary.

I watched a lady up to her waist in filthy water, holding her little dog and a small case, waiting for the helicopter to winch her up, leaving her damaged home behind. It must be terrifying. Prayers for all who have lost loved ones and for all the pets and wildlife. 🙏

Astonishing pictures on the tv news tonight. Cars piled up along a street after a year’s worth of rain fell in eight hours.

MayBee70

Is tonights repeated in the early hours? As a nocturnal person I’ve been watching Frozen Planet recently, being totally mesmerised by the beauty of the photography. But at the same time feeling so afraid for where we’re heading climate wise.

Have you got iPlayer? You could find it on there probably.

Correction - gale force winds

Am pretty sure the much warmer weather we have right now is not usual for this time of year, and though is wonderful we should really ask why this is the case. Also am from Lancashire originally where every winter there would be snow and quite a lot of it, but for a couple of decades if not longer that hasn’t happened, however, I think winters are getting milder, wetter, and with a risk of floods in the UK. Seems windier to me as well. So many storms bringing fake force winds.
Is scary.

Is tonights repeated in the early hours? As a nocturnal person I’ve been watching Frozen Planet recently, being totally mesmerised by the beauty of the photography. But at the same time feeling so afraid for where we’re heading climate wise.

Did anyone watch Frozen Planet this evening on BBC4?
I think it was a repeat but worth watching again.

However - are all those teams and visitors to the Arctic and Antarctic causing more trouble?

They apparently had a year's rain in 24 hours!

Only the other day it was reported that Spain was going to become the next Sahara.

I hope there is no more, it looks devastating.

Locals have also blamed poor drainage around towns for exacerbating the floods. One told The Telegraph: “There are floods every year at this time, mainly in smaller towns near rivers. Drainage is a big problem.

“The ground is solid from the summer heat so the water runs off the mountains into rivers.

“When they overflow, the hard ground can’t soak up the excess water so it becomes a flood. If it rains three or four days in a row, there is a flood.

“The drainage system in towns doesn’t seem that good, either. In some places, you hardly see any drains in the streets.”

We’ve got to stop burning fossil fuels, driving petrol cars etc. yes it will mean a less comfortable lifestyle and change in habits but it will only get worse without some drastic behavioural change.

At a recent U3A Conference, we were shown eveidence that our mountain region of Eastern France, with a traditionally very cold snowy climate in winter, will have Barcelona's climate in just 40 years time. I won't be around by then- but I so fear for our grandchildren.

Wine growers are in the process of replacing vineyards with grapes which can stand a warmer climate, and foresters are replacing the species grown in the area due to increased winter temps and dry weather.

I always think back to the flood at Boscastle which was the first time I became aware of strange things happening environmentally and one that people I knew were involved in.

Goodness knows what is going to happen. My son was talking about the North Atlantic Drift.

It is known that because of climate change it has been slowing but there is evidence that it is stopping. What on earth that means for the UKs temperate climate goodness only knows.

We got news of our friends with young family who live in rural area above Valencia, and they are all OK.

This is just terrible for the region, country after country suffering a similar fate due to climate change, and seas being far too warm. And still so many deny this is due to global warming, and just freak events.

* affected

Now, at least 72 people have been killed after torrential rain battered the eastern region of Valencia, and an unconfirmed number of people are thought to be missing.

Spanish minister Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez has announced that the country will observe three days of mourning from Thursday to Saturday to remember those killed and effected by the historic floods.

He told a news conference that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke with King Felipe VI at a crisis committee meeting and informed him of the official days of mourning.

One of my nieces was a holiday rep and she said she very often had to collect bus loads of people to take to their resort with rain half way up her calves.

Tragic. And what is so poignant, the sun will come out this weekend in Valencia and by this time next week areas will be dry but families who have lost loved ones will look on in despair at life returning to normal for some lucky people.

It’s very, very sad.

Poor people