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Spain Flooding Death Toll Climbs to 158 as Severe Weather Continues

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02 Nov, 2024

This post was originally published on Eco Watch

At least 158 people have died in the “deadliest episode of flooding in Spain’s modern history,” reported The Guardian.

Many more are still missing.

The storm that started on Tuesday in southern and eastern Spain brought a year’s worth of rainfall in hours, CNN reported.

In the hardest-hit Valencia region, where most of the deaths occurred, roads and entire towns were flooded when rivers overflowed, leaving thousands without water or power.

“My father is going to be 100 years old now and he doesn’t remember a flood like that. It was terrifying to be here,” José Platero, a 69-year-old resident of Utiel — one of the towns in Valencia that was most affected by the severe flooding — told CNN. “We found him looking for personal belongings near his home.”

Spain’s army has been called in to help clear wreckage and distribute aid, reported BBC News.

“The government informs me that tomorrow at 8 in the morning a first wave will join to work during the day,” the Valencian president wrote on X, as BBC News reported.

As the region recovers, more extreme rainfall is in the forecast. Spain’s meteorological service issued new severe storm warnings on Thursday, reported The Independent.

Valencia’s government said trains had been suspended, along with other public services such as public libraries, schools and museums, CNN reported.

On Avenida del Milagro in Utiel, residents were helping each other clear the muddy water out of their homes.

“I started by putting towels on the door so that the water wouldn’t get in. But suddenly the garage door burst open,” Carmen, a local resident, told CNN. “The scene was terrifying, as the mixture of water and mud began to occupy the kitchen with so much force, it knocked down the refrigerator.”

The floodwaters also hit the cities and surrounding areas of Malaga and Murica.

In the La Torre neighborhood of Valencia, the water was chest-high.

“In half an hour, we lost almost everything,” one survivor told CNN.

A flooded area in the La Torre neighborhood of Valencia, Spain on Oct. 30, 2024. Alex Juarez / Anadolu via Getty Images

Local residents voiced their frustrations to reporters and on social media for not receiving government alert warnings until the deadly flooding had already begun.

“Those people wouldn’t have died if they had been warned in time,” Laura Villaescusa, manager of a local Valencia supermarket, told Reuters.

According to residents in several towns, mobile phone alerts were not sent until 8 p.m. Tuesday, which was several hours after Aemet, the national weather service, had issued a heavy rain red alert warning of a potential eight inches in a less than 12-hour period.

“It is appalling to see so many people dying in floods in Europe, when yet again weather forecasters had predicted extreme rainfall and issued warnings. The tragedy of people dying in cars and being swept away in streets is entirely avoidable if people can be kept away from rising flood water,” Hannah Cloke, a University of Reading hydrology professor, told CNN. “This suggests the system for alerting people to the dangers of floods in Valencia has failed.”

The Spanish government has decreed three official days of mourning, beginning on Thursday. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the government would do everything it could to help victims of the calamitous flooding.

The torrential rains were likely caused by a pool of cool air high up in the atmosphere referred to as “gota fría,” or cold drop, by meteorologists in Spain.

Determining the exact part climate change played in the disastrous flooding will take more analysis by scientists, but it has been established that human-caused global heating makes extreme rainfall events more intense and more likely to happen. Warmer air also has the potential to hold more moisture, which can then be unleashed in the form of severe downpours.

“We can’t say anything on the fly,” said senior state meteorologist Ernesto Rodríguez Camino, who is a member of the Spanish Meteorological Association, as reported by CNN. “[I]n the context of climate change, these types of intense and exceptional rare rainfall events are going to become more frequent and more intense and, therefore, destructive.”

The post Spain Flooding Death Toll Climbs to 158 as Severe Weather Continues appeared first on EcoWatch.

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Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

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In June, I had the privilege of attending the 2025 E-Waste World, Battery Recycling, Metal Recycling, and ITAD & Circular Electronics Conference & Expo events in Frankfurt, Germany.

Speaking in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track on a panel with global Circular Economy leaders from Foxway Group, ERI and HP, we explored the evolving role of IT asset disposition (ITAD) and opportunities in the circular electronics economy.

The event’s focus on advancing circular economy goals and reducing environmental impact delivered a series of insights and learnings. From this assembly of international expertise across 75+ countries, here are some points from the presentations that stood out for me:

1. Environmental impact of the digital economy

Digitalisation has a heavy material footprint in the production phase, and lifecycle thinking needs to guide every product decision. Consider that 81% of the energy a laptop uses in its lifetime is consumed during manufacture (1 tonne in manufacture is equal to 10,000 tonnes of CO2) and laptops are typically refreshed or replaced by companies every 3–4 years.

From 2018 to 2023, the average number of devices and connections per capita in the world increased by 50% (2.4 to 3.6). In North America (8.2 to 13.4) and Western Europe (5.6 to 9.4), this almost doubled. In 1960, only 10 periodic table elements were used to make phones. In 1990, 27 elements were used and now over 60 elements are used to build the smartphones that we have become so reliant on.

A key challenge is that low-carbon and digital technologies largely compete for the same minerals. Material resource extraction could increase 60% between 2020 and 2060, while demand for lithium, cobalt and graphite is expected to rise by 500% until 2050.

High growth in ICT demand and Internet requires more attention to the environmental footprint of the digital economy. Energy consumption of data centres is expected to more than double by 2026. The electronics industry accounts for over 4% of global GHG — and digitalisation-related waste is growing, with skewed impacts on developing countries.

E-waste is rising five times faster than recycling — 1 tonne of e-waste has a carbon footprint of 2 tonnes. Today’s solution? ‘Bury it or burn it.’ In terms of spent emissions, waste and the costs associated with end-of-life liabilities, PCBAs (printed circuit board assembly) cost us enormously — they generally achieve 3–5% recyclability (75% of CO2 in PCBAs is from components).

2. Regulating circularity in electronics

There is good momentum across jurisdictions in right-to-repair, design and labelling regulations; recycling targets; and voluntary frameworks on circularity and eco-design.

The EU is at the forefront. EU legislation is lifting the ICT aftermarket, providing new opportunities for IT asset disposition (ITAD) businesses. To get a sense, the global market for electronics recycling is estimated to grow from $37 billion to $108 billion (2022–2030). The value of refurbished electronics is estimated to increase from $85.9 billion to $262.2 billion (2022–2032). Strikingly, 40% of companies do not have a formal ITAD strategy in place.

Significantly, the EU is rethinking its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management targets, aligned with upcoming circularity and WEEE legislation, as part of efforts to foster the circular economy. A more robust and realistic circularity-driven approach to setting collection targets would better reflect various factors including long lifespans of electronic products and market fluctuations.

Australia and New Zealand lag the EU’s comprehensive e-waste mandated frameworks. The lack of a systematic approach results in environmental degradation and missed positioning opportunities for businesses in the circular economy. While Australia’s Senate inquiry into waste reduction and recycling recommended legislating a full circular economy framework — including for imported and local product design, financial incentives and regulatory enforcement, New Zealand remains the only OECD country without a national scheme to manage e-waste.

3. Extending product lifecycles

Along with data security and digital tools, reuse was a key theme in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track of the conference. The sustainable tech company that I lead, Greenbox, recognises that reuse is the simplest circular strategy. Devices that are still functional undergo refurbishment and are reintroduced into the market, reducing new production need and conserving valuable resources.

Conference presenters highlighted how repair over replacement is being legislated as a right in jurisdictions around the world. Resources are saved, costs are lowered, product life is extended, and people and organisations are empowered to support a greener future. It was pointed out that just 43% of countries have recycling policies, 17% of global waste is formally recycled, and less than 1% of global e-waste is formally repaired and reused.

Right to repair is a rising wave in the circular economy, and legislation is one way that civil society is pushing back on programmed obsolescence. Its global momentum continues at different speeds for different product categories — from the recent EU mandates to multiple US state bills (and some laws) through to repair and reuse steps in India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The European Commission’s Joint Research Commission has done a scoping study to identify product groups under the Ecodesign framework that would be most relevant for implementing an EU-wide product reparability scoring system.

Attending this event with the entire electronic waste recycling supply chain — from peers and partners to suppliers and customers — underscored the importance of sharing best practices to address the environmental challenges that increased hardware proliferation and complex related issues are having on the world.

Ross Thompson is Group CEO of sustainability, data management and technology asset lifecycle management market leader Greenbox. With facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Greenbox Group provides customers all over the world a carbon-neutral supply chain for IT equipment to reduce their carbon footprint by actively managing their environmental, social and governance obligations.

Image credit: iStock.com/Mustafa Ovec

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The post Renewables Helped Prevent Blackouts on New England’s Hottest Day This Summer appeared first on EcoWatch.

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