An isolated high-altitude depression, named "Adam", dumped exceptional amounts of rain on the southern coast of Valencia and northern Alicante between October 18 and 19, 2026, again causing spectacular flooding.
The human toll, still provisional, stands at at least four dead , while hundreds of thousands of residents have been confined and rescue efforts are underway to free people trapped by the waters.
Images released by rescue services show streets transformed into torrents, cars swept away, and residents taking refuge on rooftops with fires lit, awaiting a possible evacuation by air.
Rainfall totals comparable to a once-in-a-century event
The severity of the event is evident in the rainfall records. In less than 48 hours, some stations recorded totals exceeding 700 liters per square meter . In Forna (Alicante), the total reached 720 mm , an absolute record for the area, while Pego recorded 638,5 mm in just 24 hours . The Spanish meteorological agency ( AEMET ) described the rainfall as "extremely adverse," noting that one would have to go back to 1987 to find an event of comparable intensity in some of the affected areas.
This deluge caused several rivers, notably the Girona and the Vernissa , to overflow, submerging entire neighborhoods and isolating municipalities . Agricultural damage is also considerable: the AVA-Asaja association estimates that more than 8,000 hectares of crops have been affected in the La Safor and La Marina districts.
#RescatesGC | 🚁💚 Desde el aire, una mano tendida. Desde tierra, una hope.
Our aircraft service helicopters require more difficult aircraft to rescue those affected by #DANAAdam.
❤️ 496 people rescued. 496 motives to seguir and lo… pic.twitter.com/sc93HTUH2J
— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) October 19, 2026
A mass lockdown and a mobilization of emergency services
Faced with rising floodwaters, the Valencian government has taken a drastic measure: the mandatory lockdown of 145 municipalities along the southern coast of Valencia and northern Alicante, affecting approximately 850,000 residents . An Es-Alert alert message has been sent to mobile phones, urging residents to stay indoors, not to go down into garages or basements, and to move to upper floors.
The rescue operations mobilized considerable air and ground resources: some fifteen helicopters, including those from the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and the Guardia Civil, made hundreds of trips to airlift residents, including babies and young children, from rooftops and balconies . The Guardia Civil reported 95 rescues and the supervision of 2,100 emergency evacuations . More than 100,000 students remained at home due to school closures.
The “DANA Adam”: an explosive Mediterranean phenomenon
The event is attributed to a DANA ( Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos ), meaning an isolated cold front aloft. This pocket of cold air, positioned over the Iberian Peninsula, came into contact with the warm, humid air of the Mediterranean, whose temperature was exceptionally high after a record-breaking summer . This thermal contrast generated stationary thunderstorms that regenerated over the same areas, unleashing torrential rain in just a few hours.
Scientists point out that climate change intensifies this type of event: the Mediterranean Sea absorbs more summer heat, which increases evaporation and the moisture load of storm systems . September 2026 was, in fact, the hottest September ever recorded in peninsular Spain.
The specter of 2024…
Even though the death toll is less dramatic, it's impossible not to draw parallels with the disaster of October 29, 2024 , which claimed 241 lives , 233 of them in the Valencian Community alone . The memory of that tragedy has made the reaction of authorities and the public particularly nervous. While the rainfall totals for 2026 are close to those of 2024 in some areas, they remain slightly below the absolute record of 770 mm recorded in Turís during the previous event . The difference also lies in the timing: in 2024, a significant portion of the rainfall fell in just a few hours, catching residents and emergency services off guard.
Political criticism quickly resurfaced. While Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for caution and solidarity, some ministers were accused of "politicizing" the disaster, while the right-wing opposition pointed to the executive branch's responsibility in handling the event . For the victims of the 2024 earthquake, these debates resonate painfully: many believe that the lessons of the previous tragedy have not been learned.
As the rains recede towards Catalonia and the red alert has been lifted on the Valencian coast, the saturated ground continues to pose a risk of flooding. The focus is still on assessing the damage and searching for missing persons, but one question already looms large: will Valencia ever be able to stop reliving the same nightmare every autumn?
The Ricardo Tormo circuit, a symbol of the scars left by the 2024 DANA
In Cheste, about thirty kilometers west of Valencia, the Ricardo Tormo circuit alone embodies the memory of the October 2024 disaster and the still fragile lessons learned from it. During the DANA race on October 29, 2024, the track itself withstood the flooding , but the access infrastructure and parking areas were devastated by the overflowing of the Sechera and Poyo ravines, with accumulations of more than 200 liters per square meter in less than twelve hours . The damage was described as "extremely severe," and the Valencian Community Grand Prix , which was to close the MotoGP season, was canceled and replaced by the Solidarity Grand Prix in Barcelona.
The reconstruction was commensurate with the trauma. The Valencian government (Generalitat Valenciana) committed €26 million to restore the circuit and its surroundings: €12 million to rehabilitate the parking area and access roads, €8 million for the CV-50 road, €5 million for the hydraulic infrastructure and wastewater treatment plant, and nearly €2 million for the temporary reopening of the main access road . The circuit reopened on December 5, 2024, with an alternative route, before fully resuming operations and hosting MotoGP again in November 2025.
But beyond the cleanup, the disaster left a lasting mark on local urban planning. In February 2026, the municipality of Cheste unanimously approved a new General Structural Plan that strictly prohibits any new construction in areas near the circuit , based on updated mapping data from the DANA disaster . "The experience of the 2024 DANA disaster marked a turning point ," summarize the local authorities, who are now seeking to prevent a repeat of the isolation and destruction seen around the sports complex.
The Ricardo Tormo circuit, once a simple sports venue, has thus become a landmark in the collective memory of Valencia: that of a place which has survived, but which reminds us each season of the power and proximity of the threat.
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