Schools closed and people evacuated as torrential rain hits Spain again | Spain

Authorities in eastern and southern Spain have closed schools and begun evacuating some residents as heavy rains hit the country again, two weeks after catastrophic floods that killed at least 215 people and sparked a bitter political blame game.

On Wednesday morning, the state weather agency Aemet placed large parts of eastern and southern Spain on yellow alert and issued the highest warning level for the provinces of Tarragona in Catalonia and Málaga in Andalusia.

The Andalusian government closed schools in the provinces of Málaga and Granada and 3,000 people were evacuated from neighborhoods near the Guadalhorce River, which flows through Málaga province. High-speed train services between Málaga and Madrid were suspended on Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities in Catalonia urged people to exercise “maximum caution,” while the regional government of Valencia – which has been criticized for its handling of the disaster – advised municipalities in affected areas to close schools and recommend people stay away to work from home.

Early on Wednesday evening, Aemet raised the alert in the province of Valencia from orange to red.

“The danger is extreme,” Aemet said in a post on X. “Avoid moving as rivers could flood. Be very careful!” It warned that 180 liters of water per square meter could fall in the area within four to five hours.

Although the current storm is not expected to be as strong as the last one, the impact of the rains could be severe as there are already large amounts of mud on the ground and the condition of the sewage system is compromised.

Nearly 20,000 military and police personnel are still involved in the cleanup effort in Valencia, the region hardest hit by flooding two weeks ago.

The city council of Chiva, one of the hardest-hit towns, canceled classes and sports activities, while in nearby Aldaia workers piled up sandbags to protect the town.

“We are placing sandbags to replace the flood gates that were destroyed in the previous floods,” Antonio Ojeda, a city employee, told Reuters. He said the idea is to prevent the Saleta Gorge, which runs through the city, from overflowing again.

The search continues for the bodies of the 23 people still missing after the October floods. On Wednesday morning, rescue workers recovered the bodies of two young brothers swept away by the water in the Valencian town of Torrent. Three-year-old Rubén Matías Calatayud and five-year-old Izan Matías Calatayud were torn from their father’s arms.

The floods, the worst natural disaster in Spain’s modern history, sparked clashes between regional and local authorities and large protests over the weekend.

Growing public anger over the authorities’ handling of the emergency prompted 130,000 people to take to the streets in the city of Valencia on Saturday evening to demand the resignation of regional President Carlos Mazón, who is leading the relief effort.

Mazón, a member of the conservative People’s Party (PP), is under increasing pressure after it was revealed that he had a three-hour lunch with a journalist on October 29, the day the torrential rains hit the region, and did not attend Emergency came to the command center by 7:30 p.m. that evening.

Much of the anger also stems from the fact that Mazón’s government waited nearly 14 hours on October 29 before sending emergency disaster warning messages to people’s cellphones, despite Aemet having issued a series of weather warnings early that morning and the previous evening.

Mazón himself has tried to shift blame onto Spain’s socialist-led government and even the armed forces’ Military Emergencies Unit (UME), whose personnel have been deployed in large numbers to the region.

The PP, meanwhile, is trying to point the finger at Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Ribera, who has been appointed Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a clean, fair and competitive transition. The party used her EU confirmation hearing in Brussels on Tuesday to accuse her of failing in her duties as minister.

“This test is completely unnecessary,” said Dolors Montserrat, spokesperson for the PP in the European Parliament. “Two weeks ago you faced the test of your life in Valencia… You are responsible for preventing, preparing for and responding to climate disasters, and that is why I am sure that history – and perhaps the judges – will condemn you for your inaction and your incompetence.”

Ribera responded that the central government had fulfilled its responsibility to sound the alarm – Aemet falls under the control of her ministry – and offered help in responding to the emergency, which remains under the control of the Mazón government. She also said that many local authorities in Valencia had heeded the Aemet warning and taken appropriate measures, such as closing schools on October 29.

“It might be good to think about the catastrophic consequences for people if the weather agency’s credibility is undermined and the risk warnings it sends are not taken seriously,” she added.