Malaga evacuates thousands as more flood warnings are issued

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain as extreme rainfall and flooding inundated the area.

The national weather office Aemet has put both Málaga and the northeastern region of Catalonia on high alert as heavy rain is expected to last until Friday.

The Málaga region, including the tourist resorts of Marbella, Vélez and Estepona, is expected to bear the brunt of the extreme weather phenomenon known as “Dana”.

Parts of the eastern Valencia region were also placed on high alert, weeks after the area was devastated by flash floods that killed more than 220 people.

Several other regions in Spain continue to be prepared for heavier rainfall and low temperatures.

Forecasters say up to 180mm of rain could fall in Catalonia in northeastern Spain in just 12 hours, accompanied by thunderstorms along the coast near Tarragona.

Schools across the southern province of Malaga were closed, while many supermarkets kept their shutters shuttered.

Footage shared on social media showed normally busy areas of the city deserted as water flooded the streets.

Around 3,000 people living in close proximity to the Guadalhorce River have been asked to leave their homes, Andalusia’s regional government said.

Antonio Sanz, minister for the presidency of the regional government, said: “We did not evacuate entire cities, but only certain areas connected to the riverbank.”

“This decision was communicated to the Spanish government in order to obtain the cooperation of the state security forces and authorities.”

The storm warning in Málaga also led to the opening game The Billie Jean King Cup between Spain and Poland is postponedsaid the International Tennis Federation.

The two nations were scheduled to play in Malaga on Wednesday.

The Spanish weather agency Aemet has put parts of the Andalusia and Balearic Islands regions on alert from now until Thursday.

Aemet warns of rainfall and storms that could be “very heavy to torrential.”

In other parts of Spain, precautionary measures are being taken – with The eastern and southern Mediterranean areas are most at risk.

This orange alert is the second highest and signals a significant meteorological event “with some danger to normal activities.”

In Valencia, school classes and sports activities were suspended in some areas and sandbags were piled up to protect the center of the town of Aldaia.

However, this second Dana weather system is not expected to be as dramatic as the red alert on October 29, when the Valencia region in particular suffered unprecedented loss of life and property damage.

Elsewhere rescue teams Searching for the bodies of two young brothers who were washed away in the floods in Valencia two weeks ago said their bodies had been found.

Izan Matías, 5, and Rubén Matías, 3, were torn from the arms of their father Victor Matías when a flash flood rocked their home in Valencia on the evening of October 29th.

Their aunt Barabara Sastre confirmed to the BBC that the boys had been found. Their bodies were recovered from different locations.

“My little angels, we finally found you,” a family friend, David Garcia, wrote online. “Two stars shine brighter in the sky.”

Yesterday, search parties were focused on a section of the Pollo River, about 3.7 miles (6 km) from the family home.

The boys’ uncle, Iván, had told the BBC he was extremely grateful for the support they had received and hoped his nephews would be found.

Volunteers from the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain had joined recovery specialists from Mexico who normally work after earthquakes.

On Monday, the family’s dog was found dead in a garage in the town of Paiporta, more than 12 km (7.4 miles) from their home in La Curra, a neighborhood of Mas del Jutge.

Dana weather systems occur when a low pressure area is “cut off” from the main flow of the jet stream.

This means that instead of moving relatively quickly through a region, they become blocked over the same area, resulting in sustained rainfall over several days.

Colder air high in the atmosphere meets warmer air flowing in from the Mediterranean, strengthening the storm.

On the first day of the COP29 climate summit on Monday, World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said the recent floods in Spain sent a strong message to the world.

“The incredible amount of rain in Spain was a wake-up call about how much more water a warmer atmosphere can hold,” she said.