Spain's catastrophic floods by the numbers: At least 219 dead, 93 missing and billions in damage

MADRID (AP) — The catastrophic torrential rains that overflowed rivers and normally dry canals in eastern Spain last week triggered flash floods that submerged entire communities and killed scores of people.

The deluge left behind a landscape of devastation, especially in Valencia, the hardest-hit region. The search for the dead and missing continues, more than a week since the Oct. 29 floods hit — as well as a gargantuan cleanup and recovery effort.

Here’s a look at Spain’s deadliest natural disaster of the century, by the numbers:

The historic floods caused 219 deaths, 211 of them in the Valencia region alone. Another seven people died in neighboring Castilla La Mancha and one more in southern Andalusia.

Ninety-three people have been officially declared missing, but authorities admit that the real number could be higher. Another 54 bodies remain unidentified. In total, 36,605 people have been rescued, according to authorities.

The full extent of the damage is unknown, but Spain’s Consortium for Insurance Compensation, a public-private entity that pays insurance claims for extreme risks like floods, estimates that it will spend at least 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in compensation.

The consortium has received 116,000 insurance claims for flood damage, with 60% of the claims for cars and 31% for homes. Spain’s Association of Insurance Companies anticipates the flooding will break a historic record for payouts.

The Transport Ministry has so far repaired 232 kilometers (144 miles) of road and rail tracks but the highspeed train line between Valencia and Madrid is still demolished.

The central government has approved a 10.6 billion-euro ($11.6-billion) relief package for families, business and townhalls. The Valencia regional government is asking Madrid for 31 billion euros ($33 billion) in aid as well.

The drought that has hit the country for the past two years and record hot temperatures helped magnify the floods, scientists say.

Spain's meteorological agency says that 30.4 inches fell in one hour in the Valencian town of Turis, an all-time national record for rainfall set on Oct. 29. The devastated village of Chiva also received more rain in eight hours than the town had experienced in the preceding 20 months.

The storms honed in on the Magro and Turia Rivers and the Poyo canal, turning them into swift currents that swept away everything in their path. To the human eye, it looked as if a tsunami-like wave of water and mud cut a swath through the southern outskirts of the city of Valencia.

The European Space Agency said that, according to satellite images captured on Oct. 31, water covered an area of 15,633 hectares (38,600 acres). About 190,000 people were directly affected, the agency said.

In all, 78 municipalities had at least one resident perish in the floods.

The emergency operation mobilized by central authorities has grown to more than 17,000 troops and police officers.

The operation includes 8,000 soldiers — 2,100 of them belonging to military emergency units specialized in disaster response — along with 9,200 additional police officers from other parts of Spain.

Thousands of ordinary citizens volunteered, with no definite estimate as to exactly how many, have helped from day one with the cleanup effort.

The government said that in the first week after the floods, authorities restored electricity to 147,000 homes and distributed some 178,000 bottles of water to places that were still without drinking water.

Spanish authorities have yet to say how many calls about missing people they received, give an estimate of the property damage, or release a calculation of how much land was devastated.

And at this point, no one can guess when the recovery effort will be concluded.

A volunteer organises food for victims after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A helicopter flies over a devestated area after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Volunteers cross a railway track after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Volunteers take a break at the street where they clean up the mud accumulated by the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman walks through the mud as she tries to arrive at her home on a still flooded street in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A volunteer takes a break near to the house where he clears up the mud accumulated by the floods, in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A man sits among debris after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A man prays during a mass at the San Jorge church after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

People attend a mass at the San Jorge church after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

People attend a mass at the San Jorge church after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Volunteers clean up the mud accumulated by the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Volunteers Izan and Oriana take a break in a playground, where they clean up the mud accumulated by the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A bicycle is photographed covered in mud after the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Dolores Merchan, 67, reacts in tears at her home, where she has lived all her life with her husband and three children, and which has been severely affected by the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A firefighter sweeps away mud after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Dolores Merchan, 67, reacts as she is assisted by volunteers clearing mud from her home, where she has lived all her life with her husband and three children, and which has been severely affected by the floods, in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A nun gets her boots spray cleaned after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Volunteers make a human chain to evacuate the mud in buckets in an area still flooded with mud in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People who have been working in the clean-up attend a mass at the San Jorge church after floods in Paiporta, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Gloves and cleaning utensils hang in a window during the clean-up after the floods, in a house in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A bathroom is photographed covered in mud after the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A couple of volunteers walk hand in hand down a muddy street in a flooded area in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Dolores Merchan, 67, reacts in tears as she is assisted by volunteers clearing mud from her home, where she has lived all her life with her husband and three children, and which has been severely affected by the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Dolores Merchan, 67, looks down on her mud-splattered belongings from the house where she has lived all her life with her husband and three children, and which has been severely affected by the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who murdered a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy’s mother in a vicious hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.

The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.

Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.

Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives.

“He could not escape,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors at trial. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict. Czuba is eligible for a minimum prison sentence of 20 to 60 years or life, according to the Will County state's attorney's office.

Prosecutors declined to comment ahead of Friday's hearing and have not said what sentence they will seek. Illinois does not have the death penalty.

The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.

Czuba did not speak during the trial. His defense attorneys argued that there were holes in the case. His public defender, George Lenard, has not addressed reporters and declined comment ahead of the sentencing.

Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room.

Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic though a translator.

Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house, sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.

Separately, lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Odai Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.

FILE - Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadee at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)