Scots woman tells of Spain flash flood horror as dozens killed

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A Scottish woman living in Spain was caught up in the ferocious electric storm that killed at least 71 people.

Dr Jennifer Milligan, 59, from Edinburgh, moved to Elche Spain to work as an English teaching assistant for a year.

She claims Monday night's flooding was 'the worst weather of her life' as the front smashed into Elche near Alicante, around four hours after locals received a Government alert, warning them to stay indoors.

Jennifer said locals received the warning in advance, and had enough time to prepare for the shocking weather and for kids to stay home from school on Tuesday.

She told the Mirror: "We were told 'stay in your houses' and the storm was horrendous. I've never seen anything like it. I live in an apartment on the top floor in this town and lots of apartments around me have Spanish flags — all the Spanish flags were literally horizontal. Because the town is built on a grid system, it felt like the wind was coming down a canyon.

"The whole sky in the middle of the night was white and the rumbling of the thunder. It was constant noise, as if articulated trucks were running up and down the street. I've never experienced a storm or weather as bad as that."

The Edinburgh native and other residents in the area received the alert at around 6pm on Monday evening. By 10pm the ferocious weather had arrived. "We had constant lightning, constant noise, and had to shut the windows. It was really quite dramatic," Jennifer said. "The communication we have had, says that there may be more bad weather on the way and that we should all buy bottled water in case we're stuck in our apartments."

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The city of Elche is known for having the largest palm grove in Europe. Many of them were flattened during the storm. Jennifer explained: "It is a real mess, palms from the trees and dates [that grew on them] are everywhere. And everyone's online checking that other people are safe.

"People have been given a black ribbon and are wearing them, because everybody wants to show solidarity with the people of Valencia."

The region - which is home to 85,000 Brits - was smashed with the worst of the bad weather.

It comes as a 71-year-old British man was pronounced dead after he was rescued from the floods in Spain, a local official has said.

He died hours after being rescued from his home on the outskirts of Alhaurin de la Torre, Malaga, the president of the Andalusian government said on Wednesday.

Juanma Moreno added that the man, who has not been named, died in hospital after suffering hypothermia and cardiac arrests.

He paid respects to the Briton’s family in the statement on X, formerly Twitter.

At least 95 people have died in eastern Spain after flash floods swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers and disrupted rail lines and major roads in the worst natural disaster to hit the nation in recent memory.

Emergency services in the eastern region of Valencia confirmed a death toll of 62 people on Wednesday.

The central government office for Castilla La Mancha region added that an 88-year-old woman was found dead in the city of Cuenca.

Rainstorms on Tuesday caused flooding in a wide swathe of southern and eastern Spain, stretching from Malaga to Valencia.

Floods of mud-coloured water tumbled vehicles down streets at high speeds, while pieces of wood swirled in the water with household items.

Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from their homes and rubber boats to reach drivers trapped on the roofs of cars.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said dozens of towns had been flooded.

“For those who are looking for their loved ones, all of Spain feels your pain,” Mr Sanchez said in a televised address.

“Our priority is to help you. We are putting all the resources necessary so that we can recover from this tragedy.”

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