Torrential rain drives deadly flash floods in southeastern Spain

Insurers across Europe will be on high alert as torrential rain has triggered devastating flash floods in southeastern Spain, causing widespread destruction and claiming at least 60 lives.

According to the Spanish weather service AEMET, the town of Chiva, west of Valencia, recorded 491mm of rain in just eight hours on Tuesday, reportedly the equivalent of a year’s worth of rain.

Videos shared on social media show floodwaters in the region toppling bridges and sweeping cars down streets, while a tornado was also reported.

All train services are suspended in the Valencia region, while around 155,000 households still lack electricity.

Flooding was also witnessed in and around the cities of Murcia and Malaga with more than 100mm of rain falling in some areas.

In response to the event, the Spanish government has set up a crisis committee, which will chaired by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and will coordinate the work of the Civil Guard, the National Police, the General Directorate of Civil Protection and the Military Emergency Unit.

A severe weather warning has been issued for the Spanish province of Catalonia, with Meteocat, the Catalan weather service, forecasting hail exceeding two centimeters in diameter, wind gusts over 25 meters per second, and the potential for tornadoes or waterspouts.

While far too early to make any industry loss estimates, this event will no doubt add to the toll for insurers, who are now retaining more flood losses than in the past as reinsurers have moved away from these types of frequency risks.

For reference, catastrophe risk modeller Moody’s RMS recently observed that damages from severe flooding across the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, and Italy between September 11th-19th will result in insurance industry losses of between $2.8 billion (€2.5bn) and $3.9 billion (€3.5bn).

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