Rescue teams found the farmer in the Pego-Oliva marsh, an area badly hit by Dana Adam. The Civil Guard believes he may have suffered a health problem; Oliva’s mayor said early information did not link the death to flooding.
The Guardia Civil’s initial account points to a medical emergency, though the cause of death remains under investigation. Before 10 a.m. on October 20, workers from a company in Oliva found the farmer’s body on his plot in the Marjal de Pego-Oliva, near the N-332 highway. Flooding from DANA Adam hit the marsh hard. The storm brought torrential rain to the southern coast of Valencia province and northern Alicante. Investigators are examining whether the rain was connected to his death.
The Guardia Civil said the man may have gone to his plot and suffered a health problem that led to his death. Oliva mayor Yolanda Pastor said the first information available to her suggested the death was unrelated to flooding. She understood the man had been walking in the area before becoming unwell. El Periódico later reported that the death was classified as natural.
If a link to the storm is confirmed, the death would become the fourth recorded in the Comunidad Valenciana and the fifth in Spain from the latest episode of torrential rain. Reports on the storm’s toll varied while cases were being counted: Euronews reported five deaths attributed to DANA Adam before the farmer’s death was assessed. The storm mainly affected the southern coast of Valencia province and the north of Alicante province. Impacts were also reported in Catalonia.
Four other deaths have been reported in connection with the rains. A 55-year-old woman entered the sea despite an orange storm warning and was found dead near the place where she disappeared. In Cabrera de Mar, Barcelona, another woman fell into a stream during rain that hit the Catalan coast on Saturday afternoon; the case was covered in an earlier report.
On Monday, the UME found a 79-year-old woman with reduced mobility dead on the ground floor of a home in Oliva after floodwater entered. A 64-year-old man was also among the storm’s victims. He suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest at Eurocamping in the same town.
The Guardia Civil reported carrying out 226 air and ground evacuations on October 20. Euronews reported that more than 2,100 people had been evacuated and around 500 rescued in the Valencian Community since the storm began. On the same day, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that the government planned to designate the affected areas as seriously impacted by a civil-protection emergency.
