A total of thirteen people are dead and four people are still missing in Spain following the violent storm Gloria which ripped through parts of Spain during the last few days and damaged or completely destroyed almost everything in it’s wake including properties, roads, beaches, and seaside promenades and streets.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, visited some of the worst hit areas on Thursday and saw for himself the damage caused by the huge waves which battered the coastal areas of the country.
An emergency meeting is being held by the Spanish government today in order to co-ordinate a response to the tragedy.
Sanchez told the media that there would be “no scrimping on any resource or effort”.
“I think what’s important right now is that we’re all united, that we work shoulder-to-shoulder and co-operate, as we are doing,” he said.
Sanchez is one of the first world leaders to acknowledge that climate change is having an effect on the environment by attributing the part it played in the severe storm which engulfed parts of Spain.
“Meteorological phenomena we are witnessing aren’t entirely due to climate change, but what is also true is that climate change is accentuating them,” he told the press.
Storm Gloria brought with it torrential rains and winds of 100km/h (62mph). Many property owners in coastal regions had to evacuate their homes as water poured through the areas and caused immense damage to properties, bursting banks of rivers, and battered the surrounding areas.
Storm Gloria hit Murcia and Los Alcazares on the Costa Calida and caused more damage all through the Costa Blanca before hitting parts of the Costa del Sol in Andalusia.
Roads were closed throughout Spain as a results of the rain and snow.
Four storm-related deaths have been reported in Catalonia, five deaths in Valencia and two deaths in Andalusia. Another two deaths have been reported in the central region of Castile and León and the northern region of Asturias.
A 50-year-old man who was washed away while fishing in Catalonia, and a 75-year-old woman died when her house collapsed in Alcoy, Alicante.
The death toll is expected to increase further with four people still reported missing in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
