Watch as 30,000 Benidorm Brits take to streets & march in fancy dress to raise funds for horror Spain storm victims
THOUSANDS of Brits in Benidorm have taken on an unusual form of fundraising for victims of the recent storms in Spain as they party in the streets in fancy dress.
As the Benidorm “Fancy Dress Party” took to the streets, collection tins were in full force as the parade organisers hoped to support the flood victims.
Meanwhile, several party hot-spots in Benidorm such as Marina Resort, Funky Flamingo, and Jolly Roger also pledged to raise much needed funds.
The participating establishments went all-in with donation boxes hoping to raise thousands of euros.
Benidorm Fancy Dress Party organisers said: “We’re banking on a major response to this fundraising effort, especially with the Fancy Dress crowd so eager to contribute.”
Meanwhile, a pilot shared the shocking moment he managed to land a small plane at Malaga airport after the runway was surrounded by floodwater after the area was battered by red-level storms.
Severe storms have dumped a month’s worth of rain in an hour wreaking havoc across the Malaga province.
Despite heavy rain and strong winds, the aircraft successfully descended onto Runway 12 on Wednesday.
The footage, reportedly filmed by a passenger in the cockpit shows heavy rain hammering down onto the window, as the runway is barely visible
As the aircraft’s altitude lowers, the camera moves to show the ground below.
Trees seem to be barely above the water after a surge in the River Guadalhorce sent water crashing close to the airport.
Malaga Airport’s website showed no arrivals to be listed for the evening, as reported by NeedToKnow.
Scheduled departures out of the airport were also cancelled yesterday.
Aena, the national airport operator, has advised passengers to check with their airlines for any updates before travelling to the airport.
Residents have been advised to refrain from any unnecessary travel after the Spanish State Meteorological Agency issued a red alert.
Marbella was battered by giant hail after massive deluge caused chaos turning streets into rivers.
In the early hours of the morning, hail stones dropped like bullets from the sky during an intense 20-minute storm between downpours that began shortly before midnight.
Spanish weather forecaster AEMET said up to 70mm (roughly 3 inches) of rain had accumulated in an hour.
The average for the region for November would be 100.5 mm.
It comes after catastrophic floods swept through Spain, killing more than 200 people.
Hellish scenes when the floods were rampant saw roads turned into rivers and torrents of debris-filled mud sweeping away cars, people, animals and buildings.
More than 1,200 troops, dozens of specialist sniffer dogs and rescue workers have all been battling against the torrid conditions to try and find any survivors.
The latest piece of tech being used to help recover bodies is a research ship called the Ramón Margalef.
It has been enlisted to undertake the grim task of searching for cars and bodies swept out to sea in the catastrophic floods.
The vessel will be using robot submarine and sonar to scan and map the seabed in the increasingly desperate search for those who were swept away.
The northeastern region of Catalonia was also hit with flash floods in an eerily similar disaster to the ones that struck Valencia.
Agonising scenes saw roads turned into rivers and torrents of debris-filled mud sweeping away cars, people, animals and buildings.
A nearby river had burst its banks, just as many had some 10 days ago in and around Valencia.
There were no human casualties reported, although one local resident expressed their fears in a post on X writing: “The situation is very serious in Cadaques.”
Spain riots & fury over floods
By Georgie English, Foreign News Reporter
HUNDREDS of thousands of people marched through the streets of Valencia as they hurled burning flares, bottles and brooms at the heavily armoured officers – protesting over the deadly Spanish floods.
Demonstrators demanded several top officials – including the regional president of the city – to resign over the torrential flooding as they continue to blast how the catastrophe was dealt with.
Regional leader Carlos Mazon has been heavily scrutinised after his administration took hours to issue any kind of flood warning to citizens.
Hundreds died in the tragic disaster which started on October 29 with many people still missing across eastern Spain.
Over the weekend, droves of passionate marchers called for Mazon to leave his role as they protested outside Valencia’s city hall.
Hundreds came with angry signs reading things such as “Mazon Resign” and “You Killed Us”.
As others spent hours chanting in the streets and even threw mud at the government building in protest.
Riot police had lined up outside the city hall building as the evening drew close before hell broke loose with protesters launching a barrage of items at the cops.
The city’s mayor, Maria Jose Catala, took to social media and posted pics of broken windows and a video appearing to show a fire being started.
She captioned: “Vandalism is not the solution.”
Thousands of people have watched their homes and belongings be destroyed from the floods, with streets still coated in mud and debris.
Earlier this month, more Spain flood survivors were seen throwing mud at King Felipe.
Fuming residents chanted “murderers!” as the monarch and his wife Queen Letizia walked through the ravaged streets of Paiporta, just outside Valencia.
Spain‘s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also had to be evacuated from the scene, according to Spanish broadcaster RTVE, as chaos erupted when the official contingent started to walk.
Footage showed people attacking the PM’s car, chasing the black SUV as police sirens were heard in the background.
Mazon, from the conservative Popular Party, was quick to defend his actions.
He said that his officials didn’t receive enough warning from central government and that the scale of the disaster was unforeseeable.