Eastern Spain braces for torrential rain and flooding

Torrential rain and potentially damaging flooding are forecast in eastern Spain over the coming days, as cold upper air moves over the warm, humid surface air of the Mediterranean Sea, fuelling violent, slow-moving thunderstorms near Spain’s east coast. The weather pattern, known as a Dana, occurs most often in autumn.Models show more than 100mm of rain could fall across the region on Friday, with 200-300mm possible in some areas. Cities including Valencia and Castelló de la Plana, are most at risk. Valencia has experienced several damaging floods in recent years. Catalonia has now put three towns under lockdown and Valencia has shut schools for nearly half a million children.Meanwhile, heavy rainfall in Nepal this week resulted in 542 disaster incidents and left 27 people dead between 24 and 27 September, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. Of the recorded incidents, 304 were related to landslides while 87 were linked to flooding.A woman and child displaced by flash floods and mudslides in Nuwakot district, Nepal. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/ReutersDuring this extremely wet period, 186 meteorological sites recorded more than 100mm of rainfall, with Dedhgaun, in Lumbini province, recording 544.2mm. Nearly a million people received SMS flood warnings, and 2,000 people living in high-risk areas were relocated.This heavy rainfall also affected the Gandak River in Bihar, north-east India, which reached a record water level of 91.25 metres on Tuesday, 0.35m metres above the previous record, set only in 2024, according to the water resources department. So far, 169 seepage points along the embankments have been repaired, with teams deployed across several sites along the river as the embankments continue to face heavy water pressure.Strong winds, heavy rainfall and coastal flooding have hit the north-east US as a very deep area of low pressure developed into a nor’easter on Saturday. Such storms are named due to the north-easterly winds typically affecting coastal areas. This was the first nor’easter of the autumn and winter season, bringing gusts of up to 74mph (119km/h) and waves rising to 3 metres.The storm left approximately 200,000 people without power, inundated the streets of New York City and killed one person when a tree fell in Brooklyn. However, the storm also uncovered a piece of history as the wreckage from the Warren Sawyer, a three-masted ship destroyed in 1884, washed ashore on Nantucket, off Cape Cod in Massachusetts.