Spain: torrential rain leaves two dead and one missing near Barcelona

The toll could get even worse. The torrential rains which fell on the east of Spain and kept the city of Barcelona and its surroundings on alert have left two dead, authorities said on Sunday October 4.

“It appears that there are two dead victims, as well as at least one person missing,” David Borrell, the fire chief of the Catalonia region (north-east), said at a press conference. One of the victims died after a wall collapsed at a campsite in Tordera, the other drowned in a flooded garage in Montornès del Vallès, two towns in the province of Barcelona.

Public events canceled in the face of danger

“The situation of extreme danger continues in certain areas of Barcelona and Girona. During the night, more than 100 liters per m2 accumulated in many places,” the Spanish meteorological agency Aemet said on Sunday morning on X. Spanish Civil Protection sent a message to the cell phones of people living near the Besós River on Sunday morning, warning of a "risk of overflow" and asking, if this happened, to go to the "upper floors" of their homes. The storm has already forced the cancellation of the demonstration for the right to housing in Barcelona on Saturday, as part of mobilizations organized in dozens of cities in Spain, such as in Madrid where tens of thousands of people gathered.