The Spanish city of Zaragoza lies just about midway between Madrid and Barcelona, an hour and a half's train ride from each. Earlier this month after travelling north from the capital and arriving close to midnight, I headed for the shower. On turning the tap, however, I had second thoughts. The water that emerged was an alarming shade of chocolate brown. The next morning as I walked down to the Ebro, the river that winds through the middle of the city, it soon became apparent why. Ordinarily Zaragoza's climate verges on the desert-like, with average annual rainfall of just 310mm. This year, the region has experienced its wettest spring since 1930. Having burst its banks, the river was consuming everything in its path under a raging torrent of muddy water.
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