Divers Check Swept-Away Cars After Record Rain Floods Spanish Town

Guardia Civil divers waded into raging floodwater on Monday, October 19, to check cars swept away by Storm Adam, making sure no one was trapped inside after record rainfall turned streets and ravines into rivers. Footage released by Spain’s Guardia Civil shows a diver from its underwater specialist unit fighting a powerful brown current beside a half-submerged silver car.

In the video, the diver, in a black wetsuit and red helmet, stands chest-deep at the back of the car, holding a line tied to the bank as the floodwater rushes past just below the windows. Shots taken from the force’s helicopter, through a rain-streaked window, show orchards and farmland around the town under muddy water, with a lone truck crossing a flooded country road. No one was seen inside the car.

The Guardia Civil said its underwater specialists and air service were sent to Pego to check vehicles carried off by ravines and flood-prone areas. Citizen security units from Alicante and Torrevieja, as well as patrols from Calpe, took part, all coordinated from the Alicante command’s operations center. Officers worked through the night with local police and firefighters, helping people trapped by the water.

Pego recorded 681.2 liters per square meter of rain in 24 hours at one weather station, and 638.8 in the town center, according to the Avamet weather network. Every station in the area passed 400 liters. Mayor Enrique Moll said the town “was cut off from one in the morning until 7, 7:30,” with emergency crews, including the military emergency unit, stuck at flooded access roads. He said Guardia Civil amphibious teams had helped 17 people, and that “you could hear the helicopters picking up people who were on their roofs,” mostly in homes around the Marjal de Pego-Oliva wetlands.

Regional authorities raised the flood emergency to level 2 in the Marina Alta and La Safor areas and sent mobile alerts telling residents to stay indoors. Storm Adam has killed three people in the Valencia region, two in Oliva and one in Sagunto, and a fourth death was reported in Barcelona.