The Generalitat asks the citizens of Catalonia “not to let their guard down” due to the torrential rains that have affected a large part of the Catalan territory, with special virulence on the Girona coast this morning. The storm has caused the death of two people in Tordera and in Montornès del Vallès (Barcelona). The first died when the wall of a campsite fell on her and the second died by drowning in the parking lot of his home. There is also a missing person in Pineda de Mar (Barcelona) who would have fallen into the river. At eleven in the morning, the mobility restrictions that were in force since yesterday afternoon in the province of Barcelona were deactivated, but those in the north of the Girona coast will remain in place until 9:00 p.m. At midday, Civil Protection has sent an EsAlert due to the danger of river overflowing in the Baix Empordà. The impact is serious because the Daró and Ridaura rivers have overflowed. The most threatening situation turns to the north, after an EsAlert message had insisted early in the morning on the risk of overflowing the Besòs River, in the Barcelona area.
In an appearance, President Salvador Illa stated that the storm is on its way to leaving Catalonia and underlined the importance of an unprecedented episode. “It was a storm with tropical characteristics that could have turned into a hurricane and that came very close,” he described. In the last 30 years, there have only been three such precedents. “I say this for those who doubt climate change,” he stressed. Mobility restrictions affect the Alt and Baix Empordà due to the risk of rivers overflowing. Ila has asked those who are in that area and must travel to Barcelona today to do so starting at 9:00 p.m. when the alert will already be deactivated and on the AP-7 highway due to damage to the N-II and C-35.
The storm has so far resulted in 7,000 calls to 112. The Emergency Service has treated 237 people, all of them minor, and 51 of them have been transferred to health centers. And the rains have forced 27 elderly people to be moved from a residence in Sant Andreu to Barcelona. Mobility is still affected: The AVE between Barcelona and Madrid already works, but it is canceled between Tarragona and France as well as the Rodalies network and the medium distance. Illa has stated that it will resume the service progressively. Only lines R3 and R4 operate in Lleida and R16 between Tortosa and L'Hospitalet de l'Infant. There are traffic closures on several roads, such as the C-17 between Ciutat Meridiana and Montcada i Reixac, and the C-60 in Roca del Vallès due to landslides. Also the BV-1462, between Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Vallès; the B-500, between Sant Fost de Campsentelles and Tiana; l’N-150 in Terrassa; C-1413 in Sentmenat; the C-352, between Franqueses del Vallès and Canovelles; and the C-1415 in Roca del Vallès.
The Generalitat Firefighters have carried out 1,400 sorties, including 144 rescue operations, and have had to participate in the rescue of several people who were trapped in their cars on the approaches to a flooded roundabout in Granollers (Barcelona), sources from this emergency service have informed EFE. The Firefighters were alerted at 05:10 in the morning, after a strong waterspout that fell in Granollers, of the sudden flooding of streams in the area and that there were several people trapped in cars, some of them on the roofs of the vehicles.
Oriol Corbella, intervention chief of the Fire Brigade, explained that they have had to intervene in many evacuations and rescues. The underwater group has participated in them. In L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, the Firefighters have evicted four members of a family from a house in the Concepció passage after part of the roof slab fell off due to the accumulation of water on the terrace.
Sarai Sarroca, director of Meteocat, has stated that this episode will go down in the history of the climate records of the climate service of Catalonia. The most affected cities have been Granollers, with 248 liters per square meter; Mataró, with 244 and Cabrils, with 232. And also in Barcelona: Sarroca has stressed that they have records in Barcelona since 1883 and that the Can Bruixa station, in Les Corts, has broken historical records with 213 liters. The record was in Vilassar de Mar with 288. The Raval station has broken its record since the opening of its station with 193 liters. "The intensity has also been very high. We are talking about a disturbance of tropical origin," he said, confirming the climate change scenario.
Illa has revealed that the storm has also affected the neonatal service and the coronary service at the Valle Hebron hospital and the operation of the Granollers and Blanes hospitals, which have seen their ground floors flooded. The flood has left images with ducks in the water accumulated in the Ronda de Dalt - and the flow of rivers and streams has skyrocketed. The Catalan Water Agency has issued a hydrological risk warning due to exceeding the danger threshold in the Besòs as it passes through Santa Coloma de Gramenet. During the early morning it recorded 520 cubic meters per second. All access to the Parc Fluvial del Besòs remains closed due to the risk of flooding. The Ripoll river, as it passes through Montcada i Reixac, has also exceeded the alert threshold with a flow of 129 cubic meters per second. Civil Protection has also warned of the intense growth of the Mogent and the Tenes stream, in Vallès Oriental.
The suspension left dozens of people at Sants station overnight with no alternative to reach their destinations. The Barcelona Metro, on the other hand, has resumed service at five in the morning after having closed at midnight, although with restrictions and some stations cancelled. The Red Cross has assisted nearly 4,000 people by distributing water, coffee and blankets at the Sants and Tarragona stations and at the Girona airport.
Once the rainy scenario is over, the Government is confident that most services will be able to function normally again. “If everything goes as it should, we expect that we will recover normality,” said Illa, who has, however, asked for patience in the face of possible specific delays. "I do not rule out that at some point and service it will take a little longer, such as in some hospitals. A response will be given, but perhaps we will delay the implementation a little, the same as in the road or railway network," he warned. The objective, in any case, is that the main effects are resolved over the next few hours. Illa, in any case, has insisted on not letting down his guard because next week more showers are expected in Catalonia, although more dispersed and moderate: "A front like the one we have passed is not expected, but the accumulation of water these days forces us to be cautious due to landslides or other effects."
