Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FLOODS

Spain floods death toll rises to six after body found

Rescue teams found the body of a woman in central Spain on Saturday, bringing to six the death toll from floods triggered by torrential rains last weekend.

Published: 9 September 2023 17:05 CEST
This handout satellite image released on September 9, 2023 by Planet Labs PBC shows an aerial view of a destroyed bridge in Aldea del Fresno
This handout satellite image released on September 9, 2023 by Planet Labs PBC shows an aerial view of a destroyed bridge in Aldea del Fresno, on September 5, 2023 after heavy rains and floods. The death toll from heavy rains rose to six on September 9. Photo:  Handout / Planet Labs PBC / AFP

A sniffer dog from Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit located the body some 50 metres (165 feet) from the Vallehermoso stream near the town of Valmojado in the central province of Toledo,  said Guardia Civil police force spokeswoman Antonia Requena.

“It was hidden in undergrowth and mud,” she told reporters at the scene.

The body still needs to be identified but the authorities believe it is of a woman in her 50s who had been missing in the same area since severe rainstorms hit central Spain at the weekend, turning streets into raging torrents and washing away roads and bridges. Her car was found on Monday in poor shape.

Rescuers had already found the bodies of three men on Monday in the central province of Toledo.

And on Friday they located the remains of two men who were missing near the town of Aldea del Fresno where the Alberche River overflowed on Sunday.

Among them was a 47-year-old man whose car was dragged into the river.

Emergency services rescued his wife and daughter on Sunday night while his 10-year-old son was found alive the following morning after spending the night perched in a tree above the floodwaters.

The weekend storm, which swept across the whole country, disrupted travel for tens of thousands of people on the final weekend before the start of the new school year.

The high-speed rail links between the Spanish capital and the southwestern region of Andalusia and the east coast region of Valencia was one main travel forced to close, as were several Madrid metro stations.

Scientists warn that extreme weather such as heatwaves and storms is becoming more intense because of climate change.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

PROPERTY

Too hot or too cold: Spain’s homes struggle to keep comfortable temperatures

Amid rising temperatures and more extreme weather, new data reveals that a significant proportion of Spaniards are struggling to keep their homes at comfortable temperatures during the winter and summer months.

Published: 14 May 2024 09:51 CEST
Too hot or too cold: Spain's homes struggle to keep comfortable temperatures

Spaniards are increasingly finding it difficult to keep their houses at comfortable temperatures during the summers and winters, and the problem has grown markedly over the last decade.

This follows new data released from Living Conditions Survey recently published by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), which revealed that over a quarter of families in Spain struggle to heat their homes sufficiently in winter and that a third are too hot in summer.

The percentage of households reporting difficulties in keeping their homes at a comfortable temperature has increased by almost ten percent overall in the last decade.

READ ALSO: Why are Spanish homes so cold?

In the colder months, the proportion that say they can’t keep their property sufficiently warm during winter has grown from 17.9 percent in 2012 to 27.5 percent in 2023.

The summer heat poses an even greater problem for Spaniards. The percentage of households struggling to keep their homes cool enough during the summer months has risen from a quarter (24.8 percent) to over a third (33.6).

READ ALSO: Ten ways to protect your Spanish property against the summer heat

This comes as Spain faces record breaking temperatures year round and rising energy costs. According to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), 2023 was the third hottest summer since records began, surpassed only by 2022 and 2003.

In summer 2023 alone, four official heat waves were recorded, lasting a total of 24 days.

READ ALSO: How the right orientation of your Spanish home can save you hundreds on energy bills

However, though rising temperatures clearly play a role, so too does geography, income, and poor energy efficiency caused by poor insulation.

Murcia is the region where the highest proportion of households have problems keeping their homes cool in the summer, with almost half of families polled saying they are in this situation (46.6 percent). Murcia was followed by Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Aragón and Extremadura, where the figure is 36 percent.

At the other extreme, in the cooler, northern regions of Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia, it is not even 20 percent.

Despite that, it is also the southern regions that struggle the most with keeping their houses warm enough during the winter. Murcia is once again the region where the highest percentage of families are unable to keep their homes at an adequate temperature over the colder months.

40.1 percent of Murcianos say they find it difficult to heat their homes over winter. In Andalusia and Extremadura the figure is almost 35 percent, the other two regions that top the list, meaning the three most southern regions of Spain came out on top.

In contrast, in Navarre, Castilla y León​​, and the Basque Country, less than a fifth (20 percent) of households report problems maintaining a sufficiently warm temperature at home during winter.

Household income also factors into this problem. INE data shows that the proportion of households struggling to maintain an adequate temperature in their homes increases as average income decreases. Among families with the lowest income levels, 38.9 percent say that they are cold in winter and 41.3 percent say that they are too hot in summer.

Of the regions that struggle to keep their homes warm or cool enough, Murcia, Andalusia and Extremadura all have some of the lowest median per capita incomes in the whole country, along with some of the highest levels of poverty.

Equally, the parts of the country where this seems to be less of a problem, such as the Basque Country, Galicia, and Navarre, are some of the wealthiest regions of Spain.

Housing quality and insulation also contribute to poor energy efficiency, which in turn makes temperature control more difficult. Even among households with high incomes, 15 percent say that they are unable to heat their property sufficiently in winter and 24.8 percent struggle to keep it cool enough in summer.

According to INE data, a quarter (25.1 percent) of Spanish households have not made any improvements to their thermal insulation or heating system in the last year, significantly more than the 14.1 percent who have been able to make changes.

SHOW COMMENTS