UAE urges citizens to exercise caution due to bad weather conditions in Spain

 Gulf Today, Staff Reporter / Agencies

The UAE Mission in Madrid urged Emiratis in Spain to exercise caution due to bad weather conditions in Valencia, Catalonia, Andalusia and the Balearic Islands.

Through its account on the X platform, the mission stressed the necessity of following the safety instructions issued by the Spanish authorities, communicating in emergency cases on 0097180024 or 0097180044444 and registering in the Twajudi service.

King Felipe VI warned the emergency was "still not over" and national weather service AEMET put parts of eastern and southern regions on high alert levels for rain on Thursday.

Flags flew at half-mast on government buildings and minutes of silence were observed nationwide at the start of three days of national mourning after Spain's deadliest floods in decades.

The death toll from devastating flash floods in eastern Spain climbed to 158, with rescue teams still searching for those missing in what could become Europe's worst storm-related disaster in over five decades.

"There's a total of 158 people to which must be added dozens and dozens of missing," Angel Victor Torres, minister in charge of cooperation with Spain's regions, told a press conference. A year's worth of rain fell in eight hours in parts of the Valencia region on Tuesday.

Eliu Sanchez, a resident of a suburb of Valencia city, recalled how the merciless currents snatched a man who tried to take refuge on a car.
"I have been told of people who were clinging to trees, but the force made them let go and they were carried away, calling for help. Trucks, everything was going from here to there," said Sanchez, 32.

The tragedy is already Spain's worst flood-related disaster in modern history, and meteorologists say human-driven climate change is making such extreme weather events more frequent and destructive.

More horrors emerged from the debris and ubiquitous layers of mud left by the walls of water that produced Spain's deadliest natural disaster in living memory. An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found.

Pope Francis said he was praying for the people of the region. "I'm close to them in this moment of catastrophe," he said in a video posted on X.