A forest fire in eastern Spain forced the evacuation of around 1,000 people on Saturday, as authorities scrambled to manage simultaneous natural disasters across the region.
The blaze is burning close to Gatova, an inland village with a population of 450, located northwest of Valencia in Spain’s eastern interior.
Local media reported the fire is believed to have been ignited by a lightning strike late Thursday, with flames spreading rapidly through dry vegetation.
By Friday evening, more than 400 hectares of land had been scorched, with television footage showing flames advancing dangerously close to built-up residential areas.
Spain’s Military Emergency Unit UME posted a video to X showing its firefighters working through darkness to douse the advancing blaze with several helicopters and aircraft also deployed.
Juan Carlos Valderrama, Valencia autonomous community’s civil protection minister, said buses were on standby to help residents without their own vehicles to evacuate their homes.
The wildfire is one of hundreds that firefighters across Europe have been battling this summer amid record high temperatures along the Mediterranean coast and beyond.
Barely 150 kilometers away along Spain’s Costa Dorada, a separate crisis was unfolding as flash floods trapped people in cars, toppled walls, and forced a campsite evacuation.
The Meteorological Service of Catalonia reported that several towns recorded nearly 200 liters per square meter of rainfall in just a few hours overnight.
Roads in the coastal towns of El Vendrell, Coma-ruga, and Torredembarra in the Catalonia region were partially submerged, according to local media reports.
A regional emergency official said firefighters had carried out more than 200 missions to rescue people trapped in vehicles and flooded buildings across the affected area.
Three people were injured when a wall collapsed at the port of Roda de Bera, approximately 75 kilometers southwest of Barcelona, according to emergency services.
A separate wall collapse at a nearby campsite injured two additional people, while around 300 campers were evacuated and sheltered at a local sports center.
On Saturday morning, the Meteorological Service of Catalonia warned of further heavy rainfall expected to impact the coastal region, raising concerns about additional flooding.
The twin disasters highlighted the growing pressure on Spanish and European emergency services as extreme weather events strike with greater frequency and intensity across the continent.
