Storm Adam kills second woman as flash floods batter Spain

By WILL HALLOWELL, NEWS REPORTER and NATALIA PENZA

Published: 08:00 EDT, 19 October 2026 | Updated: 08:00 EDT, 19 October 2026

Spanish tourist hotspots have been hit by wild new flash floods after biblical storms over the weekend as a skinny dipper becomes the latest victim. Storm Adam claimed the life of a second woman in Spain as the army is mobilised to help Ibiza and Majorca get back on their feet following weekend devastation. Firefighters on Sunday found the body of a 35-year-old woman swept away by a swollen stream the previous evening in Malgrat de Mar, near Barcelona, in front of her young daughter. Overnight it emerged another woman, whose age and nationality are not yet known, had died after going skinny dipping in the sea a half-hour drive north of the east coast city of Valencia despite an orange storm alert. A Dutch man had gone swimming with her at Almarda Beach in Sagunto managed to exit the water and raise the alarm around 8pm last night. A search involving police, firefighters and coastguards got underway soon afterwards before it was massively scaled back because of the bad sea conditions. The unnamed woman’s body was found shortly afterwards off the nearby beach of Canes d’en Berenguer by Sagunto Port.

The person who alerted the emergency services reportedly told cops he believed she and her companion were under the influence of drink or drugs when they went into the sea despite warnings to stay away from the coastline. Police have not yet commented on this. Meanwhile specialist UME Armed Forces units were working in Ibiza and Majorca this morning after being mobilised from their base in Valencia to help the struggling local emergency services. Overnight army officers posted footage showing their men pumping out waist-high water from flooded garages in Ibiza, where the airport was out of action for a total of two hours until just after midday yesterday after torrential rain made the runway inoperable.

The runway closure resulted in five cancellations and 16 diversions although the number of knock-on cancellations had reached 27 by 7pm yesterday evening. The army’s return to Ibiza came around a year after they were called on twice in less than a fortnight when torrential rain caused flooding at island nightclubs and hotels at the end of September last year before the airport was temporarily left out of action as it was battered 11 days later by Storm Alice.

All schools in Majorca, Ibiza and Formentera, one of the worst-hit islands yesterday where a hospital was flooded, have been closed today. An orange alert is still in place for the Balearic Islands this morning, with a red alert in place for parts of the Valencian Autonomous Community. The Spanish Army has also been sent to Oliva a 45-minute drive from Valencia which has suffered historic floods and where roads became rivers overnight. Nearly 100 people had to be evacuated in the early hours of this morning from a campsite in the Costa Blanca holiday resort of Javea further south because of torrential rain.

They were transferred to a Red Cross temporary shelter. The body of the first flash floods victim was found on Sunday after she fell into a swollen stream in Spain as torrential rain turned streets into muddy rivers. The woman’s husband was able to stop their daughter from being swept away by powerful floodwaters in Cabrera de Mar, about 18 miles from Barcelona. They had been returning to their car after playing basketball in town when the mother was swept downstream at around 7.30pm on Saturday.

It is understood she had been trying to cross the waterway with her daughter when she became overpowered by the water. Search teams on Sunday morning recovered the woman by the breakwater at Marina Port Premia, a sports and leisure centre on Barcelona’s Maresme coast. Firefighters who had been involved in the search said: ‘We have found the lifeless body of the woman who went missing yesterday evening.’ It comes as Storm Adam brought chaos to Ibiza airport on Saturday, with footage from inside the terminal showing water cascading from the ceiling. One of its car parks was temporarily closed due to the collapse of an awning.

Flights into the holiday island were being diverted to Alicante and Majorca because of runway problems caused by the heavy rain. The seven flights known to have been affected include one from London and another from Bristol. Ibiza’s Island Council confirmed motorway access to the airport had been cut off near the tunnels in Playa d’en Bossa. Store owners were seen using brooms and mops to try to keep brown floodwater gushing down the street from entering their premises. Civil Protection chiefs warned in an alert sent to phones on Saturday morning: ‘Imminent risk of flooding in Ibiza and Formentera from intense rainfall.

‘Maximum precaution. Avoid flood-prone areas and unnecessary journeys and stay clear of waterways.’ Hundreds of people are said to have been left without electricity on the two Balearic holiday islands. The Costa Blanca region has been placed under a rare ‘danger to life’ warning, which will remain until 10am on Monday. State weather forecaster Aemet said the red alert would span Malaga, Torremolinos, Fuengirola, Marbella, Estepona, Nerja and the Axarquia region. It warned: ‘The meteorological danger is extraordinary. Property and vulnerable populations or in exposed areas could suffer very serious or catastrophic impacts.’

The southern coast of Valencia and northern Alicante could receive falls of 300mm throughout Monday as Storm Adam continues its path of destruction. Emergency services have responded to more than 100 calls since the deluge began on Saturday, mostly from people trapped in their cars in floodwaters. Shocking footage shows large recycling bins and a car sailing downstream and a truck trapped in the muddy water. Tourists and residents have been urged to stay indoors, avoid all non-essential travel and steer clear of low-lying roads, riverbeds and beachfronts.

Locals in Valencia received an emergency alert on their phones yesterday afternoon reminding them to stay indoors as the floods raged outside. Public buildings such as libraries, cemeteries and gardens have been closed and football matches and concerts have been cancelled. Roads have been closed or restricted due to fears of landslides. The storm has caused widespread flooding in El Palo, east of Malaga’s city centre, and further inland in Axarquia, home to thousands of British expats. The south-eastern province of Almeria has also been badly affected, with cars trapped and basements flooded in municipalities such as El Ejido.

It comes as two elderly people were rescued after becoming trapped in their cars in floodwaters in Sentmenat, a municipality in the Valles Occidental region of Catalonia. On Thursday, the body of a 12-year-old boy, named only as Rami, was found after he went missing during a storm in Spain’s Catalonia region on October 4. Officials said his body had been found by a fisherman off a beach in the holiday resort of Sitges after he disappeared earlier this month. Rami had Level 2 autism, with reports stating he had fled his home in Granollers near Barcelona after becoming frightened and disorientated during the night.

An online appeal was put out by a non-profit organisation on behalf of his family as volunteers joined police and other officials in the search. A second person went missing around the same time as Rami, a man who is believed to have fallen into a flooded river in Pineda de Mar, north of Barcelona. Two people died during storms earlier this month, one a 75-year-old man after a campsite wall collapsed on top of him in Tordera close to the Costa Brava coastline and another man in a flooded garage in Montornes del Valles, in Barcelona.

The army had to be sent to Ibiza twice last year because of flooding chaos. The airport was left out of action for nearly an hour after being battered for the second time in less than a fortnight by Storm Alice. Torrential rain on September 30 last year caused problems including flooding at Ibiza nightclubs and hotels. Three people were injured when rocks smashed into the four-star Vibra Tropical Garden Apartments in Ibiza Town. Tourists reaching Ibiza at the time on ferries were pictured stepping into knee-deep water as they got off the boat. Storm Adam comes two years after mass flash floods in Valencia claimed 214 lives.

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