From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishspate of somethingspate of somethingLOT/LARGE NUMBER OR AMOUNTa large number of similar things that happen in a short period of time, especially bad things a spate of burglaries → spate
Examples from the Corpus
spate of something• The party lost power three years ago after a spate of political scandals.• An alarming spate of bombings has caused widespread panic.• The company has yet to respond to the recent spate of lawsuits filed against it. 