Dana Adam, a cut-off low, has been absorbed by a trough and is losing strength over the Mediterranean, but it left flooded streets, garages, tunnels and a convent across eastern Spain. Meteorologists gave the system a name for the first time in the way hurricanes are named. In the Valencian comarcas of La Safor and Marina Alta, some towns exceeded 700 litres per square metre in 48 hours, according to the Valencian Meteorological Association (Avamet). In Alicante, the climatology laboratory of the University of Alicante confirmed more than 130 litres fell across Mutxamel, Sant Joan and Alicante in a storm that broke around midnight between Monday and Tuesday and flooded the Santa Faz convent, where cloistered nuns had to bail out water during the night.
Experts are concerned about the repeated episodes of torrential rain in the Mediterranean. Avamet and the Alicante laboratory said that the frequency of such episodes does not match what forecasting models predicted, pointing to climate change and warmer Mediterranean waters. Aemet said on Tuesday that the episode was nearing its end, but yellow warnings remained in place across all the Balearic islands.
La Vanguardia counted seven victims across the Spanish Mediterranean after a farmer's body was found on Tuesday in the Pego-Oliva marsh, the fourth death in the Valencian Community. The earlier cases it lists include a 79-year-old woman with reduced mobility, whom the UME located at her home on Monday morning after a relative raised the alarm, a 64-year-old man who died of a cardiorespiratory arrest at a campsite in Oliva, and a woman who died while bathing at the beach in Sagunto. La Razón, writing earlier on Tuesday, counted at least five deaths up to Monday, one each in Barcelona, Sagunto and Málaga and two in Oliva, and reported a man aged 60 to 70 found floating off Cala en Brut in Ciutadella, Menorca. Guardia Civil sources told Efe that his death was not initially linked to the storm, that all indications point to him being a bather, and that the investigation will confirm what happened. Firefighters, security forces and Salvamento Marítimo staff carried out more than 1,000 rescues over the course of the episode. In Oliva, around 150 evacuees without other accommodation woke on Tuesday at a multipurpose centre run by the Red Cross, according to elDiario.es, which described streets littered with branches and overturned bins.
The Consell held an extraordinary plenary session on Tuesday, 20 October, and approved a first aid package worth 23.5 million euros for people affected in southern Valencia and northern Alicante. Generalitat president Juanfran Pérez Llorca announced it in a statement without questions and said the aid would be direct, with a single application that can be filed online or in person at councils and PROP offices.
“The administration will put itself at the service of residents. We are looking for an administration that is close, agile and resolves matters immediately.”
Households whose main home was damaged can receive 6,000 euros to replace household goods and cover the damage, and 3,000 euros for a second home. Families who lost their main home will get 800 euros a month for twelve months to rehouse. Councils can draw up to 200,000 euros for urgent costs, from an initial budget of 17.5 million euros. Free legal, notarial and registry help is available for insurance claims, and a further package covering vehicle losses, the primary sector, commerce, hospitality and animal shelters is due in the coming days.
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Clean-up has been deployed with more than 40 heavy machines and 271 people, and 80 more will join on Wednesday, 21 October, to repair forest tracks. Collection points let residents leave debris in one place, and more than a hundred technicians are working at damaged treatment plants, restoring power with emergency generators while pumps and electrical equipment are repaired.
The 112 emergency coordination centre recorded 410 incidents linked to the storm in the Balearics over the course of the episode. At 21:00 on Tuesday, 20 October, 13 remained open, all on Ibiza and Formentera and related to flooding in buildings, premises or roads. The Plan Inunbal stayed at operational situation two in the Pityusic Islands, while Mallorca remained at level zero. Pablo Gárriz, director general of Emergencies and Interior of the Govern, visited the worst-hit points on Ibiza on Tuesday and planned to travel to Formentera on Wednesday.
The rains are easing across the region. Catalonia's civil protection deactivated its Plan Inuncat after the Meteocat weather service ended all warnings for intensity and rainfall accumulation. On the Valencian coast, confinement orders in eight municipalities of southern Valencia and northern Alicante were lifted, and the UME began to demobilise. The flooded AP-7 tunnel at Pilar de la Horadada, in southern Alicante, remains closed by water, mud and vehicles. Schools in the affected area resume teaching on Wednesday, 21 October, except those in Oliva, whose pupils return on Thursday, 22 October. Llorca said his commitment was clear: to be close, to act quickly and to leave no one behind.
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Valencia's regional government approved a first aid package for households and councils, while Balearic emergency services still had 13 open incidents on Ibiza and Formentera.
AI text based on reports by LaVanguardia, eldiario.es, europa press and other publishers. Published .