Spain is reeling from its deadliest natural disaster in decades, as devastating flash floods swept the country’s east coast.
In Valencia, entire communities were flooded as the region received a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours.
Now shocking satellite photos reveal the true extent of the devastation.
The images, taken by the Copernicus Earth Monitoring programme, show areas where thousands of people are trapped in their homes.
In the south of Valencia, large parts of the countryside were still flooded two days after the start of the flooding.
And near the coast you can see the huge plume of mud that is washed into the ocean by the currents.
Copernicus estimates that 11,000 people were affected in the town of Algemesi alone, where more than 100 kilometers were flooded.
Across the region, 158 deaths have already been reported – and this number is only expected to rise in the coming days.
These satellite images show Valencia’s water treatment plant before (left) and after (right) the deadly flash flood
These photos show the Paiporta neighborhood of Valencia before (left) and after (right) the flooding. You can see how the Paiporta Bridge was destroyed by the raging waters
Satellite images taken by the EU’s Copernicus satellite program have revealed the true extent of Valencia’s disastrous flooding. In this photo, taken on October 31, the areas highlighted in blue were underwater
The Valencia floods started on October 29 when the region was hit by an unprecedented storm.
The resulting flash flood swept through Valencia and nearby towns, trapping hundreds of people in their homes, even forcing many to climb trees, scale lampposts and desperately sprint to the top floors of buildings to escape.
It is Spain’s worst flood disaster since 1996, when 87 people were killed and 180 injured in a flash flood near Biesca in the Pyrenees.
An image taken by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite shows flood levels as they stood on October 31.
The blue shaded areas represent areas that were still underwater when the satellite passed overhead.
As you can see, the area around Lake Albufera has been heavily flooded, with the water extending as far as the town of Sueca in the south.
Within the city of Valencia itself, flooding is more concentrated, mainly affecting the area around the Turia River, which was diverted as a flood defense in the 1960s.
Closer inspection reveals that there are a number of smaller pockets of flooding in the city, mainly along roads and major streets, allowing water to flow freely.
In this image taken by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite, you can see the huge plume of brown mud being swept out to sea by the force of the flood
Search and rescue teams have begun searching for survivors (pictured). It has already been confirmed that 155 people have been killed
The city of Valencia (pictured) and the surrounding area were hit by Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, when flash floods turned streets into rivers
A second photo, taken on October 30, shows the staggering scale of the floods in their true colours.
In the satellite photo you can see a vast area of brown water stretching south from Valencia towards the town of Cullera.
This vast expanse of water is what was left behind when the rain swept through the region.
Copernicus says: ‘The enormous amount of sediment deposited into the Mediterranean Sea by the rivers in the Valencian Community is clearly visible in this Copernicus Sentinel-3 image.’
In the sea near Valencia you can see the brown mud patch dumped into the ocean.
Most of the sediment is deposited near the mouth of the Turia, where the flood waters were most concentrated.
Another satellite photo from NASA’s Earth Observatory shows the worst destruction concentrated south of the Turia.
In these areas, entire streets, neighborhoods and cities are covered by the dark brown water.
These satellite images taken by NASA’s Earth Observatory show the region before (left) and after (right) the flood inundated entire cities
Valencia received a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours, causing water levels to rise several meters in some parts of the city
People walk through an affected area of Paiporta, Vallencia. The streets are filled with flood sediment and broken cars due to the force of the water
These satellite observations also allow scientists to understand the true extent of the devastation in the region.
Using satellite measurements, Copernicus estimates that 5.68 square kilometers were underwater.
The flooding is believed to have directly affected the homes of 11,000 of the city’s 27,000 people, as well as 100 kilometers of roads and 6.4 kilometers of railway lines.
In the wider Valencia region, Copernicus estimates that more than 100,000 homes are without power.
As clean-up efforts continue, the exact losses will become clear, but it is already clear that these floods have been extremely devastating.
In the town of Paiporta, shocking video showed a bridge collapsing under the weight of floodwaters.
Terrified onlookers screamed as the concrete pillars cracked and eventually collapsed, plunging into the water. The streetlights flickered briefly before being abruptly extinguished and lost beneath the raging floods.
The first fatalities were confirmed in the early hours of Wednesday by Valencia’s political leader Carlos Mazon, with news of ‘several fatalities’ in the town of Letur.
A satellite image of Valencia clearly shows where the worst-hit parts of the city are, with brown water covering large areas of land south of the city.
A man rides a bicycle past broken-down cars in the Sedavi neighborhood of Valencia. It is estimated that more than 100,000 homes in the region are currently without power
The Spanish government has convened a crisis committee and sent a thousand soldiers to the region. The true extent of the destruction will likely only become clear in the coming days. In the photo the Sedavi region of Valencia
At least 158 people are now believed to have been killed in the Valencia region, but rescuers expect more bodies to be found as the waters recede.
This morning, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tried to reassure victims that the government would “not abandon them.”
“All of Spain is crying with all of you. Our absolute priority is to help you… We will not abandon you,” Sánchez said in a televised address.
The Spanish government announced the creation of a crisis committee – the equivalent of the British Cobra emergency response committee – as the scale of the disaster became clear.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles said earlier this morning that more than 1,000 members of the Military Emergencies Unit UME, a branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, have been mobilized to assist in rescue efforts in the province of Valencia.