Pictures of the Year International

On 29 October 2024, Spain suffered one of the worst floods in its history, with more than 220 fatalities.

Villages in the province of Valencia woke up covered in mud and rubble. Bridges, roads and railway lines were completely destroyed and thousands of cars were swept away by the torrential waters.

In the most affected localities, rainfall of between 400 and 500 litres per square metre was recorded in a few hours, causing severe flooding, human losses and immense material and environmental damage.

The alert system that was supposed to warn citizens of the threat of the storm arrived on their mobile phones as many were already fighting for their lives and were even saying goodbye to family members. Hundreds of people spent the night on top of trucks or cars, on the roofs of shops or petrol stations, or trapped in their vehicles on blocked roads until they were rescued.

Neighbours and volunteers muddied up to the neck on a daily basis in an attempt to clean up and mitigate the ravages caused by the storm, while rescue teams tried to locate the missing and identify the bodies of the victims, but complaints about the lack of help from official teams and the feeling of abandonment by the institutions was growing.

In the midst of this natural disaster and in this tense atmosphere, tension erupted with the visit of the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, the president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia to Paiporta, the ground zero of the disaster. Amid boos and insults, neighbours and volunteers threw objects and mud at the political representatives and Spanish royalty.

The scale of the storm is overwhelming. In addition to the fatalities, 75,000 homes and 15,700 businesses were flooded. More than 130,000 vehicles were destroyed, which in many places contributed to the collapse of bridges and footbridges. Schools and healthcare centres were also washed away. As for the environmental disaster, the two green lungs and shields against the effects of global warming in the Mediterranean area were affected: the “Túria” Natural Park and “l’Albufera”.

In contrast to so much disgrace, the wave of solidarity of thousands of anonymous volunteers armed with buckets, shovels and brooms on their way through the mud stands out. Crucial help from the falsely christened ‘glass generation’ in an area where the shock still lingers.