Spain hit by flash floods that killed 92 people and roiled an economic hub

The flooding seemed not to strongly hit Valencia, the regional hub and Spain’s third-largest city.

Per a Spanish government briefing, the most significant industry in Valencia is automaking. It also mentioned chemicals, manufacturing, agri-food, and IT.

It was not immediately clear whether particular industries or companies were severely affected by the floods.

Cristina del Rey, the communications director for Ford Spain, told Business Insider that her company’s Valencia plant had not suffered direct damage from the floods but would be shut down on Wednesday and Thursday.

“We hope to recover the units not produced on 30 and 31 October during the rest of the month,” she said.

Valencia’s government advised against road travel in the province because of heavy-rain warnings in alert texts sent to residents in the early hours of Wednesday local time.

In an X post on Wednesday, Spain’s transport minister said train service on the railway line connecting Valencia to Madrid, the Spanish capital, was still suspended.

On Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was closely following reports of missing people and damage caused by the storm and that all emergency services were being dispatched in response to the storm.

The provisional death toll of the floods put it among the most serious natural disasters in Western Europe in recent years, though not the worst.

Widespread flooding in July 2021 that struck Belgium, Germany, and surrounding countries killed more than 200 people. Overall, extreme weather in Europe has caused economic losses of assets estimated at more than $800 billion between 1980 and 2023, according to the European Environment Agency.

According to a report from the Aon Spain Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation that works to prevent and assist with natural disasters in Spain, the annual cost of natural disasters in Spain, including floods, was estimated to range from around $940 million to $2.5 billion from 2016 to 2021.

In an X post on Wednesday, the city of Valencia’s mayor said the province was facing one of the “most difficult and painful” moments in its history.

Spain’s congress held a minute of silence on Wednesday for the storm victims.

In an official address on Wednesday, Sánchez pledged to use all of the state’s resources to help the victims rebuild the streets and homes affected by the floods.

“United, we will rebuild your streets, your squares, and your bridges. And all of Spain is and will be with you,” he said.

Spain’s territorial-policy minister, meanwhile, said the government would declare three days of national mourning, from Thursday until Saturday.