The shocking videos of the waterspout that caused flooding and dragged cars in Zaragoza

The strong storm left millions of dollars in damage in the Spanish city, which is still on alert for hail and strong winds.

Serious flooding, streets turned into rivers, cars swept away by the current, people sheltering in trees or on the roof of their vehicles, several injuries and million-dollar damage are some of the consequences left by a strong downpour of water that hit the Spanish city on Thursday Zaragoza, which is still on orange alert due to the possible arrival of a storm with hail and strong winds.

As reported by the State Meteorological Agency of that country (AEMET), 54.2 liters of water fell per square meter per hour, with peaks of 20 liters in ten minutes. Drains were saturated and the entire area suffered extensive flooding of water mixed with mud. The moments of greatest chaos were experienced around 6:00 p.m. this Thursday.

“It has been an extraordinary rain, torrential and not at all normal,” the mayoress of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca, reported in dialogue with the Spanish newspaper El País, who announced that the material damage is equivalent to “millions of euros.”

Dozens of videos went viral on social networks and revealed the magnitude of the floods. Among the most shared images is that of a woman who was trapped on her vehicle in the middle of a strong current and who was later rescued by the emergency services.

“If I see the videos, it’s worse, and I only think what would have happened if instead of going alone, I went with my children,” María L., the protagonist of that video, told El País.

Despite all the material damage, the official authorities remarked that “there is no need to regret personal misfortunes.” Specifically, at least six people were transferred to the Miguel Servet hospital in Zaragoza and the General de la Defensa. There were no serious injuries.

More than 200 people, including personnel from the Fire Department, Police, Cleaning, Infrastructure and the Municipal Brigades, “are fully dedicated to cleaning and recovery tasks” in the city, according to the city of Zaragoza in an official statement.

In that same message, they pointed out that “the intensity of rain that has fallen has not occurred in the last 10 years” in Zaragoza.

As explained by the professor of Geography Ángel Pueyo, from the University of Zaragoza, “an extreme downpour like the one on Thursday, was already experienced in 1986, with the difference that this area was not urbanized then.”

Zaragoza was not the only affected city in the Aragon region. In Alcañiz, 28 people from 13 families had to be evacuated from their homes as a result of the floods and will not be able to return to their homes until at least this Monday.

DB

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