Spain (MNN) — As massive flash floods ravage Spain’s Valencia region, the crisis shows no signs of slowing. Days after torrential rains devastated communities and claimed over 215 lives, heavy storm clouds linger over Barcelona.
“This morning, there’s been torrential downpours that have shut down part of the Barcelona airport,” says Denise Godwin with International Media Ministries (IMM). “They’re saying landslides are possible [and] nobody should drive their cars in several cities along the coast.”
Torrential rain has forced parts of the Barcelona Airport to shut down. (Photo courtesy of Tobias/Unsplash)
The flood’s intensity has prompted a large-scale mobilization of aid, with over 10,000 additional soldiers and police deployed to Valencia. Search teams are still working through debris.
“Everybody’s trying to be really proactive now that they’re realizing the suddenness of these storms,” Godwin explains.
Flooding like this isn’t common in Spain. But when it happens, it can be catastrophic. One area received a year’s worth of rain in 8 hours.
Godwin says, “It tends to not rain for ages and ages and ages. Then when it rains, it rains a lot, but [the country] is just not really equipped for it, so these floods come on suddenly. This is — according to the news media here in Spain — the worst in over 100 years.”
In Valencia, the Convoy of Hope has started organizing church volunteers to meet physical needs for water, food, and emergency supplies.
The flooding has left thousands of people with hard questions and searching for hope.
“When people lose houses, cars, freedoms, really, it really throws them into questioning life and questioning who God is, why life is like it is,” says Godwin. “It’s really a good opportunity for churches and believers to be in the community and helping.”
For IMM, it’s a chance to minister through media, reaching people with the Gospel amid the destruction.
“We send media into places where there’s crisis or where there’s no freedom,” Godwin says. “It’s an opportunity, when there’s this disconnect from what we think of as our real lives, our normal lives, to help people reconsider how they view God, how they view their own life, [and] eternal life.”
As Spain grapples with this tragedy, Godwin asks, “Pray for all the believers who are in these communities…. Pray for them, to have anointing from the Holy Spirit to be able to communicate to people around them the strength of the Gospel in hardship, the hope of the Gospel in eternity.”
Pray for the distressed people in Spain affected by the flooding to seek Christ.
Header photo: On Wednesday, October 30, 2024, the NOAA-20 satellite captured a striking image of a powerful storm over Spain that brought record rainfall to the country. (Photo courtesy of NOAA/Flickr, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=154779758)
