Death, looting and hunger: chaos in Spain after the floods

As the death toll continues to rise (more than 150 as of early morning of November 1), the areas most affected by the torrential rains in eastern Spain (with the epicentre in the province of Valencia) have an apocalyptic appearance. And daily survival is complicated by the lack of help.

Thousands of people are trapped in towns without water, electricity or food. Authorities immediately deployed the army but they have not yet been able to reach every corner of the devastated area.

The media and social networks are filled with testimonies of people who claim to be suffering from hunger and thirst. It is an emergency never seen before and an absolutely unusual situation in a developed country in Europe.

While people are trying to repair the damage, the lack of basic necessities is leading to looting by unscrupulous people. At night, in the darkness caused by the lack of electricity, according to direct witnesses on social media, there are attacks on homes in some places.

There are even people who are leaving their towns on foot, trying to reach safer places with food and water.

The complaint by Juan Manuel Adsuara, mayor of Alfafar, was particularly striking. According to the newspaper La Vanguardia, this mayor said: "We have not seen any help, people are living with corpses in their homes." An extreme situation that, according to various reports, is also happening in other areas hit by the floods.

Long queues can be seen in the towns affected by the brutal rains. These are people waiting for food and water to be distributed. And they are lucky because it means that help has arrived.

The heavy rains caused flooding and serious damage to infrastructure. This is why aid cannot reach some of the affected localities by conventional means.

An example of this is the train lines, which is widely used in the Valencia area. According to Transport Minister Oscar Puente, the train is expected to be out of service for "two or three weeks."

Heavy rainfall is a common occurrence on the Mediterranean coast every October. But in this case the amount of water that fell from the skies was absolutely exceptional. Experts link it to the warming of the sea due to climate change.

The images of people in an economically developed country having to search for food and water are reminiscent of the dystopian series or films that have been so popular in recent years.

There is also another concern: that the disaster could happen again. This is an image of rain in the province of Cadiz, where the rain also fell violently. For now, the devastation has not returned on the scale seen in the province of Valencia.

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