Devastating footage shows surging flood water tearing down a bridge in just seconds, destroying everything in its path.
Bystanders in Paiporta, Valencia, watched in horror as torrents of water submerged the giant infrastructure, highlighting the capability of the floods.
The river beneath burst its banks and continued to rise. Street lamps on the bridge flickered briefly before they were abruptly annihilated, plunging the torrent into an eerie darkness.
The fatal flooding has claimed the lives of 95 people so far, including children, with several people still feared missing.
The death toll is unfortunately expected to rise with the continued searches taking place.
Over 1,100 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units have been deployed to areas hit by the downpour, scrambling to find individuals potentially trapped in vehicles or homes.
Paiporta is a town on the outskirts of Valencia, home to just over 20,000 people. It so far has been the eye of Spain’s storm, suffering exceptional loss.
Over 30 people have been killed in this area alone, including a baby and their mother.
Mayor of Paiporta, Maribel Albalat, said on Wednesday: “The currents were so quick – and we called the emergency services who started rescuing some people who had water up to their neck.”
She described the scenes as “a total catastrophe”, adding that the death toll is expected to rise: “The victims are going to be in their dozens.
“There were a lot of people in their homes, which in Paiporta are single-storey, and water has entered them, and they haven’t been able to get out.”
The Mayor tragically said: “a lot of people who went to move their cars and never came back”.
Officials reported on Wednesday that a year’s worth of rain fell on Valencia over an eight-hour period. Forecasters in Spain have issued a number of new weather warnings today across some of the worst-hit areas – including Paiporta.
Up to 100m of rain could fall within 12 hours in areas just north of Valencia. The warnings from Spain’s state meteorological service, Aemet, also predicted up to 40mm of rain within four hours.