The death toll from floods caused by storm Adam in eastern Spain has risen to five, not four as first reported, local authorities said.
The fifth victim is an elderly man. Rescuers found his body in the marshy Pego-Oliva area.
See also: Four dead and more than 2,100 evacuated after historic floods in Spain
Two women died over the weekend, one in Barcelona and the other in Sagunto, in Valencia province. On Monday two more people died in Oliva: a man at a campsite and a woman with limited mobility. She lived alone on a ground floor and was found dead at home. Unofficial reports say she was 79.
Monday, 19 October, was the worst day. Many people were cut off, and normal life in Levante came to a halt. After the weekend the storm moved south. In places along the southern coast of Valencia and the northern coast of Alicante, more than 600 and 700 litres of rain per square metre fell.
The highest reading so far is 713 litres, in l'Atzúvia, in Alicante province. Pego got 632 litres per square metre in 36 hours, and 430 of those fell in just six hours. The weather agency Aemet rated the danger in La Safor and Marina Alta as extreme.
Aemet says the only comparable case in the area was on 3 November 1987, when 817 litres per square metre fell in Oliva. That is still Spain's national record. In 2024 another storm brought 772 litres to Turís. The current one is the third most intense since Spain began measuring rainfall.
The authorities declared the highest emergency level in Valencia, Alicante and the Balearic Islands. On Monday the Valencia regional government, the Generalitat, ordered residents of 145 municipalities in Valencia and Alicante to stay at home. The order affected hundreds of thousands of people, and unofficially more than 800,000. It stayed in force for much of the morning and was lifted everywhere in the afternoon.
More than 2,100 people have been evacuated. Pilar Bernabé, the central government's delegate in the Valencia region, said 450 people have been rescued so far. More than 1,300 Civil Guard officers are taking part in the rescue, and they have brought out 226 people by air and by land. The army's emergency unit, the UME, has rescued more than 200.
Oliva is one of the hardest-hit municipalities in Valencia. About 600 people went to the town's community centre for help, and 400 of them spent the night there.
Airports remain closed and classes are cancelled. Prime minister Pedro Sánchez will visit Valencia today.