The death toll recognised in the criminal investigation into the 29 October 2024 Valencia floods has risen to 234. The Catarroja judge leading the case has included the death of a 73-year-old man from Paiporta who died on 26 November 2024 after developing an infection. He had injured his foot as floodwater entered his home.
This is not a routine statistical correction. The decision formally recognises, within the criminal proceedings, a death that occurred almost a month after the flood and extends the time frame in which its fatal consequences are being assessed. The ruling became public one day after the disaster’s second anniversary.
How the court assessed the link
The judge at position three of the Civil and Investigating Section of the Catarroja Court of First Instance reached her decision after examining a forensic medical report and statements from the man’s children, taken at the request of prosecutors. The High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community announced the ruling through Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary.
According to the family’s evidence, the man lived alone and was independent before the flood. He injured one foot while water was entering the house. His children said they later saw swelling and discolouration in his toes.
He was admitted to Valencia General Hospital on 18 November, five days after vomiting and fever began. He died on 26 November from infective endocarditis caused by Enterococcus faecalis.
The ruling preserves an important distinction. The forensic report could not establish, on its own, a “single and direct” causal link between the endocarditis and the events of 29 October. It did, however, consider that the foot wound could have been the infection’s entry point if it came into contact with contaminated surfaces. After weighing that report alongside the family testimony, the judge treated such contact as the decisive element for adding the death to the case total.
What the revised total means
The figure of 234 is now the death toll recognised in the criminal investigation into the handling of the flood emergency. It does not suggest that every death occurred in the same circumstances. This ruling deals specifically with a later medical complication and the connection between an injury sustained during the flooding and a death several weeks afterwards.
That distinction also explains why the case has been added now. The request required specific investigative steps — including medical evidence and testimony from relatives — before the judge could decide. The wider proceedings remain open, and the official figure could change again if the court examines further deaths alleged to be linked to the flood.
The next verifiable development will be any further ruling by the investigating judge on other potential victims or on the responsibilities under investigation. Unless that happens, the Catarroja proceedings now record 234 deaths.