South-Eastern Europe Face Heightened Flooding Threat Owing to Rainy Circumstances
As tempests and hurricanes have raged in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific, Europe has experienced severe weather of its own. A low-pressure system that emerged over the Mediterranean midweek moved northeast into southeastern Europe on Thursday afternoon, causing widespread rain showers, electrical storms and prolonged rainfall.
Ongoing Rainfall and Critical Warnings
The system is expected to persist into Friday, with forecasting tools suggesting two-day amounts of 80 to 130 millimeters of rain across a large part of the Balkans. Red weather warnings were activated for Serbia, south-west Romania, Greece's northeast, and the Greek isles, underscoring the risk of floods and threat to life. Strong winds also closed schools on the island of Zakynthos in the Ionian Islands.
Frigid Air Contributes Severity
Cold air drawn in from eastern Europe worsened the seriousness, generating significant snowfalls across the Dinaric Alps, with some models estimating accumulations of nearly three feet by the weekend.
Previous Flooding in Spanish Regions
Earlier in the week, eastern Spain and the Balearic Islands experienced devastating inundation as the leftovers of Tropical Storm Gabrielle crossed the Iberian region before stalling over the nearby sea. The city of Valencia and Ibiza were hardest hit; The town of Gandia measured 14 inches in half a day – over tenfold its September average, while the island had 254 millimeters in a full day, its most precipitation in a day since at least 1952.
Streets, train stations, green spaces, and school buildings were forced to close, while a rain gauge near the area of Aldaia recorded over two inches in just 35 minutes, causing the La Saleta ravine to burst its banks. The flooding come nearly one year after catastrophic inundations in the region in 2024 that killed over 230 individuals.
Storm Bualoi Affects Vietnamese Regions
The powerful typhoon struck the coast across Vietnam's central region this past week, bringing torrential rain, powerful gusts, and huge sea swells. Over 300 millimeters of rainfall was recorded within a 24-hour span on the start of the week, triggering flash floods and mudslides that closed over 3,000 highways and cut off local populations across the northern regions. Dozens of flights were halted or rescheduled, and rail transport between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were halted.
Authorities reported 36 deaths and 147 people injured, with 21 persons still missing. Hundreds of thousands of residences were impacted or inundated, with over 51,000 hectares of farmland wiped out. The Vietnamese authorities has assessed that Bualoi has led to more than $350m in property damage this week.
