New rain alert lifted for Spain's flood-ravaged Valencia region

Two weeks after Spain's deadliest flooding in decades that killed more than 200 people, a fresh overnight rain alert issued by the national weather agency was downgraded from the highest level after a new storm made landfall without causing any new victims.

Spain's traumatised Valencia region woke up unscathed after an overnight rain alert on Thursday, two weeks after the country's deadliest floods in decades killed more than 200 people there.

National weather agency AEMET downgraded the highest red warning for rain for the eastern Valencia coast after a new storm made landfall without causing victims.

"It was a tricky night because it didn't stop raining... we had never seen so much rain," Jordi Mayor, mayor of the town of Cullera, told public broadcaster TVE.

"Practically all the streets" were submerged, stones and material were swept across the town and the civil protection headquarters were flooded, sparking a frantic clean-up effort, Mayor added.

Firefighters said on X that they would continue cleaning and pumping out water in the devastated region after a "tense night".

Regional authorities in Valencia extended university and school closures, shut adult daycare centres and sports facilities and restricted road travel in the worst-affected municipalities to "essential vehicles" on Thursday.

The latest storm wreaked transport havoc in and around the southern city of Malaga on Wednesday and thousands of residents were evacuated.

Read more on FRANCE 24 English

Read also:
Tens of thousands march in Spain to protest handling of flood disaster
'Murderers!': Spanish royals leave flood-hit town after heckling by angry crowd
Spain sends ten thousand more troops, police as flood death toll continues to rise