MADRID, Spain (AFP) — The body of a man was pulled from a van trapped in floodwaters in northern Spain on Sunday, the second death linked to heavy rains which have caused rivers to burst their banks.
Rescuers located the van in the Bidasoa river in the northern Navarra region on Saturday, a day after the 61-year-old was reported missing, a police spokesman said.
Strong currents and poor visibility had prevented them from retrieving his body from the van until Sunday.
A 49-year-old woman died in her car in the Navarra village of Sunbilla on Friday after a landslide that followed two weeks of heavy rains.
Greece too has been hit by torrential downpours and a 55-year-old pediatrician mother of three was found dead in the north on Sunday, local media reported after her car was swept away in the flooding.
Rivers overflowed cutting off roads and causing damage to houses, crops, and infrastructure in western Greece as well as Thessaly in the northeast.
The heavy rains which have swamped northern Spain were accompanied by the thawing of snow at higher altitudes, causing rivers to rise rapidly, engulfing cars and flooding homes.
The head of the Navarra government, Maria Chivite, called for the region to improve its flood readiness.
“Navarra will continue to live with floods and we need to be prepared so that when flooding happens, it has the least impact possible,” she told reporters.
Because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.
Built-up urban areas with poor drainage infrastructure are especially vulnerable to heavy downpours, scientists say.
Spain’s national weather office forecast sunshine and warmer weather for northern Spain over the coming days.
© Agence France-Presse
