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The Iberian nations are again recovering from significant inundation following Storm Claudia delivered torrential downpours and powerful gusts last week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

The storm system formed from a low-pressure zone that had beforehand driven early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US at the start of November.

The system tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the northwestern area of the Iberian region, trapped within a trough of an increasingly amplified atmospheric river.

Impact on Iberia

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was hit first, with 80-150mm of rain coming down along its west coast in just 24 hours up to the evening of Wednesday as a slow-moving band of rain crawled across the western areas of the peninsula.

More downpours and stormy weather on Thursday last week brought flooding to parts of Portugal where an older couple lost their lives in the city of Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they slept.

Tempestuous weather continued into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a campsite and a nearby hotel in the town of Albufeira in Portugal's south on Saturday last week, killing an British woman aged 85 and wounding 28 people.

Extended Consequences across Europe

This system triggered more extensive impacts across western Europe. By pulling tropical air from the subtropical zones, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in southwestern France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the state's maximum ever late autumn reading.

By Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a cold air mass across more northern parts of Europe, creating a band of rain extending from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the United Kingdom, this stationary front of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, leading to significant waterlogging in the Welsh region.

As the storm progressively weakens in the coming days, the cold air mass will advance southward, giving Europe its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Related Incidents in California, USA

The US state of California underwent a so-called atmospheric river the previous week, causing intense precipitation and strong winds that led to sudden inundations and debris flows in regions scarred by wildfires earlier this year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain fell in the southern region of the state on the week's end, with a another 50 millimetres across extensive areas of California on Saturday last.

More than 100mm of rain fell over coastal parts of the state's south in all, hitting eight inches in total in locations at higher elevations.

Such a weather system is a narrow band of hot, humid air stemming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Regions previously burned including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena suffered the most severe the rapid inundations and mudslides, forcing residents to flee.

Across California, a man in his seventies passed away after his car was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were pulled into the sea by powerful waves on the the state's central shoreline.