Flooded areas around Valencia have been shaded in blue in this satellite image from October 31. Copernicus
Record rainfall flooded parts of Spain this week, killing more than 150 people in the nation’s deadliest natural disaster in decades. New satellite imagery from NASA and the European Space Agency shows the extent of flooding around the coastal region of Valencia.
Valencia saw a year’s worth of rainfall in just eight hours, with floods destroying buildings, disrupting trains, and leaving more than a 100,000 homes without power. Some areas saw more than 12 inches, including the town of Chiva, which recorded a staggering 20 inches of rainfall.
Valencia in October 2022 (left) and October 2024, after record rainfall flooded the city. NASA
An analysis from World Weather Attribution found that climate change was “the most likely explanation” for the unusually severe downpour. Warming, it said, made the rainfall 12 percent heavier. A separate analysis from Climate Central showed that uncommonly warm ocean waters fueled the storm, and that the excessive ocean heat was made at least 50 times more likely by climate change.
