🔗 Share this article Storm Claudia Brings More Inundation to Portugal and Spain Portugal and Spain are once more recovering from widespread inundation in the wake of Storm Claudia brought torrential downpours and strong winds the previous week. Claudia's Genesis and Journey This meteorological event developed from a low-pressure zone that had beforehand ushered in early season cold and snowy conditions through the eastern sectors of Canada and the north-eastern US at the start of November. This storm tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the second week of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, snared in a dip of an ever more meandering jet stream. Impact on Iberia The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was initially impacted, with 80-150mm of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday night as a leisurely moving system of rain drifted across the western sectors of the Iberian peninsula. Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday led to floods to Portuguese localities where an elderly couple died in the capital Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus entered their home as they were asleep. Unsettled atmospheric states lasted through the weekend, with a violent whirlwind tearing through a campsite and a close-by inn in Albufeira in the south in southern Portugal on the weekend's Saturday, claiming the life of an 85-year-old British woman and wounding two dozen and eight persons. Broader Impacts across the European continent Claudia had more extensive impacts across western Europe. By drawing warm air from the subtropics, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in south-west France to 29.8C (85.6F), the country's highest recorded November temperature. By the following Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body clashed with a frigid air system across the northern areas of Europe, generating a rainfall belt running from western Ireland to the Russian Federation. In the United Kingdom, this halting system of rain delivered very high rainfall totals, resulting in significant waterlogging in Wales. As this weather phenomenon loses strength in the coming days, the frigid air will advance southward, giving Europe its first taste of winter. Parallel Events in the state of California The Golden State encountered an "atmospheric river" last week, delivering heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that resulted in flash flooding and landslides in zones impacted by blazes in the recent past. Over two inches of rain fell in southern California on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres across extensive areas of California on Saturday. In excess of 100 millimetres of rain accumulated over shoreline regions of Southern CA in total, reaching eight inches in total in locations at higher elevations. Such a weather system is a plume of tropical, saturated air coming from the tropical or subtropical regions. Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena region experienced the most severe the rapid inundations and mudslides, prompting evacuations. In other parts of the state, a 71-year-old man lost his life after his vehicle was washed off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her dad were swept into the sea by powerful waves on the California's Central Coast.