NewsTracker Answers for week of Nov. 04, 2024

Q: More than 200 people died in flash floods last week after a year’s worth of rain fell on parts of Spain in eight hours. The death toll was expected rise as searches of wrecked vehicles and buildings continued. Where is Spain?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Areas near the eastern and southern coasts of Spain were hit hardest by the flooding. Those coasts are on which body of water?

A. Bay of Biscay

B. Gulf of Cadiz

C. Mediterranean Sea

D. North Sea


C. Flooding hit Valencia on Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast and Malaga on the southern coast. Scientists linked the Mediterranean’s high surface temperatures to the massive rainfall. The Bay of Biscay is on the Iberian Peninsula’s northern coast, and the Gulf of Cadiz is on the southwest. All of these waters are part of the Atlantic Ocean.


Q: When the rain first began to fall, it was welcomed by some as relief from a prolonged drought, But, the deluge rolled off much of the hard-baked ground as the raging floodwaters raced toward the sea. Besides droughts and floods, how is climate change impacting Spain?

A. Desertification

B. Heat deaths

C. Rising sea levels

D. All of the above


D. Spain is one of the countries that is most affected by the climate crisis in Europe, with 74% of the country at risk of becoming desert. The number of annual heatwaves doubled in a decade, and the heat is lasting longer and causing more deaths. Sea levels are rising all along Spain’s long coastlines threatening deltas and saltwater intrusion into the country’s dwindling fresh water supply.


Q: Climate change also is affecting agriculture on the Iberian Peninsula, which once served as a “granary” for what ancient Mediterranean civilization?

A. Greek

B. Phoenician

C. Roman

D. All of the above


C. All of thees civilizations colonized parts of the peninsula, but the Romans eventually conquered all of what is now Spain and Portugal and ruled the are for 600 years. Roman rule increased agricultural production with irrigation projects, some of which remain in use. The peninsula’s harbors also exported gold, wool, olive oil, and wine to Rome.


Q: Angry survivors hurled mud at Spain’s king and queen on Sunday. The Kingdom or Spain emerged in 1492 with the final defeat of invaders from ...

A. Africa

B. France

C. Germany

D. Turkey


A. Muslim forces from North Africa began invading the Iberian Peninsula in 711, defeating Germanic rulers who has forced out the Romans about 300 years earlier. Muslim invaders controlled almost all of the peninsula by 781. Forces from northern Christian kingdoms slowly began conquering the territory with the last Muslim-controlled area surrendering to a newly unified Spanish kingdom in 1492.