TORRENTIAL RAIN FLOODS VIETNAM AND SPAIN, KILLING FOUR

Torrential rain has caused flooding and deaths in Vietnam and Spain this week, according to authorities. In northern Vietnam, government statements said the rain triggered landslides and floods that killed three people, flooded more than 16,000 homes and damaged over 22,000 hectares of crops. In north-eastern Spain, rescuers recovered the body of a man in Olivella, near Barcelona, after his car was swept away by a stream, authorities said. Spain's national weather agency, AEMET, had issued a red alert for the Barcelona coastline as the rain fell.

Some areas of northern Vietnam received as much as 653mm of rain since Monday, officials said, with landslides at 11 locations and the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City railway flooded to about a metre deep, halting several trains. In Catalonia, emergency services logged more than 850 calls and over 500 incidents, with Barcelona's metro partly shut, buses diverted and flights delayed or cancelled at El Prat airport. In Valencia, the meteorological association AVAMET recorded more than 70mm of rain in half an hour in some areas, and officials reported 478 incidents, mostly property damage. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned of "very complicated situations" and urged against unnecessary travel.

Vietnamese authorities said more than 29,000 personnel were mobilised in Thanh Hoa province for emergency aid, with forecasters expecting further heavy rain from Thanh Hoa to Hue through the weekend. The Spanish flooding came after the country's hottest summer on record. Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the Mediterranean storms that typically strike eastern Spain in autumn, as the sea absorbs heat over summer and increases evaporation. The floods follow those in Valencia less than two years ago, in which more than 230 people died.