At least 62 people have died and more are missing after torrential rains caused massive flooding in southeastern Spain, turning roads into rivers of floating cars and cutting off highways and access points, Spanish officials said Wednesday.

As much as a foot, or about 300 millimeters, of rain fell in mere hours late Tuesday, leading to catastrophic flooding in and around the city of Valencia. Totals throughout the day were reportedly as high as 20 inches, or 500 millimeters. The deluge reached the first floors of homes, swept away vehicles and in one instance – in footage captured on social media – knocked down a bridge.

Authorities raced to respond to rescue calls, dispatching helicopters in the Valencia region as well as other affected areas, including Cuenca and Albacete. Local authorities opened emergency shelters for those left homeless.

“We are in a very complicated moment,” Carlos Mazón, president of the Valencia region, told reporters. He described the situation as “unprecedented.”

Lucía Beamud, a city councillor and resident in the La Torre district of southern Valencia, told the Las Provincias news outlet Wednesday that the waters had risen “in a matter of minutes.”

“You could hear people screaming, and the neighbors were calling each other to try to confirm that the others were still alive,” Beamud said.

Witnesses described nightmarish scenarios as they sought to navigate the rising waters. One man told Levante that he abandoned his car when it began to take on water but was carried away by a current and ended up smashing into a wall. “I thought I was going to die,” he said.

As much of the country remained on elevated weather alert, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for vigilance and promised aid flood-hit areas.

“We’re going to help with all the resources of the state,” Sanchez told victims, pledging to “rebuild your houses, plazas, bridges.”

More than 1,000 members of Spain’s emergency military unit were activated to deal with the disaster.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc had engaged its Copernicus satellite system to help rescue teams on the ground, and offered to send additional first responders.

“What we are seeing is devastating,” she said. “Entire villages are covered in mud. People seeking refuge on trees, and cars swept away by the fury of the waters.”

Sánchez described the disaster as the product of an isolated depression – when an extremely cold air current descends on hot air. Such cold fronts are typical in Spain this time of year, but the resulting deluge was particularly severe – the worst seen this century in Spain.

A combination of low pressure trapped near the Strait of Gibraltar and the unusually warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea fueled persistent streams of heavy thunderstorms that dumped on various parts of the country.

In some spots, months’ worth of rain poured down in hours. The country’s meteorological agency said one station recorded the heaviest rainfall in a 24-hour period in Valencia since 1996. Precipitable water values, a measure of moisture in the air, were around 300 percent of normal Tuesday, according to weather models.

In August, the Mediterranean reached its highest observed temperature for the second summer in a row. Although it has cooled somewhat into fall, much of the region is still seeing sea surface temperatures some 2 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 3 Celsius) above average. Scientists say warmer ocean waters create an atmosphere capable of holding more moisture – a phenomenon that can supercharge storms.

Boosted by the strong El Niño last winter, ongoing ocean warmth is largely driven by the steady march of human-caused climate change. According to Copernicus, the earth observation program of the European Union, water temperatures globally over the past two years are the highest on record.

The disaster in Spain is the latest in a series of generational flood events across Europe and around the globe. In the United States this month, Hurricane Helene caused more than 200 deaths – many of them inland, hundreds of miles from where the storm made landfall, as rainfall accumulated and roared into neighborhoods not prepared for calamity.

Last month, a slow-moving storm battered several countries in Eastern and Central Europe, killing more than two dozen people. Also in September, floods in Africa killed at least 200, including those who died when a dam burst in Nigeria.

Spain experienced flooding over the summer, too – in addition to extreme heat and wildfire threats from longer-term drought. The low-pressure area responsible for the recent deluge is still swirling over the region through the end of the week. Although it is weakening over time, additional flooding rain is possible in Spain until it departs.

(c) Washington Post