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Portugal and Spain are once more dealing with the consequences of widespread inundation in the wake of Tempest Claudia unleashed torrential downpours and powerful gusts the previous week.

Claudia's Origin and Path

This meteorological event developed from an area of low pressure that had earlier driven unseasonably early chilly and snowy weather through the eastern regions of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US in early November.

The system journeyed east across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the northwestern area of the Iberian peninsula, trapped within a trough of an increasingly amplified air current.

Effects in the Iberian Peninsula

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its western coastline in just one full day up to the evening of Wednesday as a leisurely moving system of rain pushed across the western areas of the peninsula.

More downpours and stormy weather on the following Thursday led to floods to parts of Portugal where an older couple perished in the city of Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus invaded their residence as they were asleep.

Stormy conditions continued into the weekend, with a tornado ripping through a camping ground and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in the south in southern Portugal on Saturday, killing an British woman aged 85 and harming 28 individuals.

Wider Effects across the European continent

The storm produced more extensive impacts across the western European nations. By pulling tropical air from the subtropical zones, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the nation's all-time high autumn 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 band of rain running from the west of Ireland to Russia.

In the Britain, this stationary front of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in major inundations in Wales.

As Claudia continues to weaken in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will advance southward, giving Europe its premier experience of winter.

Related Incidents in California

The Golden State experienced an "atmospheric river" the previous week, delivering intense precipitation and powerful winds that led to flash flooding and debris flows in zones affected by blazes in the recent past.

Over two inches of rain was recorded in southern California on Friday, with a further 50mm across extensive areas of California on the subsequent Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain fell over shoreline regions of Southern CA in all, hitting eight inches in total in areas of elevated terrain.

Such a weather system is a narrow band of warm, moist air stemming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Locations with fire damage including Palisades and the town of Altadena endured the most severe the flash flooding and earth movements, leading to evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a elderly male died after his automobile was washed off a inundated overpass, and a child of seven years and her father were swept into the ocean by big swells on the California's Central Coast.