🔗 Share this article

While cyclones and tropical storms have churned in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific, the continent has experienced extreme conditions of its own. A low-pressure system that formed over the Mediterranean Sea in the middle of the week drifted northeast into south-eastern European countries on Thursday afternoon, producing extensive rain showers, thunderstorms and lengthy rains.

Ongoing Precipitation and Serious Alerts

This weather pattern is expected to persist into the end of the week, with weather models showing 48-hour period accumulations of 80-130mm of rain across much of the Balkans. Severe weather alerts were issued for Serbia, Romania's southwest, north-east Greece, and the Greek isles, emphasizing the threat of floods and danger to residents. Strong winds also closed classes on the island of Zakynthos in the Ionian archipelago.

Chilly Air Intensifies Severity

Frigid temperatures pulled in from Eastern European regions increased the severity, causing heavy snowfall across the Dinaric Alps, with certain forecasts estimating snow levels of as much as 80 centimeters by the coming weekend.

Earlier Flooding in Spanish Regions

Previously, eastern Spain and the Balearics suffered serious inundation as the remnants of Hurricane Gabrielle moved across the Spanish peninsula before coming to a halt over the Balearic waters. Valencia and Ibiza were hardest hit; The town of Gandia measured 356.8mm in a 12-hour period – significantly exceeding its September average, while the island had 254 millimeters in a full day, its rainiest day since at least 1952.

Streets, transit hubs, parks, and schools were compelled to shut down, while a rain gauge near the area of Aldaia measured 57 millimeters in just 35 minutes, causing the La Saleta waterway to overflow. These inundations come nearly one year after catastrophic floods in Valencia in the previous year that claimed the lives of more than 230 people.

Storm Bualoi Affects Vietnam

Tropical storm Bualoi struck the coast across Vietnam's central region this recent days, causing intense rainfall, high winds, and huge sea swells. More than 300mm of precipitation was observed within a single day on the start of the week, triggering rapid flooding and mudslides that closed thousands of routes and isolated local populations across the northern regions. Many airplane journeys were disrupted or postponed, and train operations between the capital Hanoi and the southern metropolis were suspended.

Authorities reported 36 deaths and 147 people injured, with 21 persons still unaccounted for. Hundreds of thousands of residences were impacted or inundated, with in excess of 126,000 acres of farmland wiped out. The Vietnamese authorities has assessed that the storm has led to in excess of £260 million in damage to property this recent period.