The adjective “exceptional” is today more than justified to describe the weekend that a good part of Catalonia has experienced, including the regions where the majority of the population lives. Rainfall that has shattered all known records to date, a true deluge of tropical air that has left a trail of destruction, a feeling of unease at the real possibility that this type of situation will be repeated with increasing frequency and, worst of all, that it has claimed two human lives, in addition to the disappearance of another person. A misfortune that could have been of greater magnitude if the majority of citizens – not all – had not behaved with due responsibility and without the good work of services that have worked piece-rate.
The chronicle of events of this storm is headed by two sad events. The first fatality reported is a 75-year-old resident of Tordera, who died on Sunday morning at the Caravaning Internacional Costa Brava campsite when a wall gave way and he collapsed on it while trying to remove the water that had accumulated during the night inside his bungalow. A few minutes later the second death was confirmed, in this case, in Montornès del Vallès, where, after receiving the notification of the disappearance of a person and proceeding to empty a garage completely flooded by the flooding of the Mogent river and the Vallromanes stream, they found his lifeless body. In addition, the rescue device was activated by land, sea and air for another missing person in Pineda de Mar, a young man who had fallen into the river and whom the torrent had dragged to the sea in this town in Maresme.
After verifying the damage caused by the record rainfall on Saturday night and early in the morning, the main concern during the day on Sunday was the evolution of the storm in the regions of Girona (the Aemet extended the red warning for torrential rains in the Empordà until three o'clock last morning) and above all the flooding of streams and rivers, both in the metropolitan region of Barcelona and in the province of Girona. Besòs serves as an example. Its flow registered a tremendous increase, only comparable to that of the historic and deadly floods of 60 years ago. As it passed through Santa Coloma de Gramenet it rose to 936 cubic meters per second and 3.60 meters high. In fact, the waters were about to overflow the retaining wall and reached the level of the railway bridge, an infrastructure that cries out for a review and that, due to its low height, poses a danger of collapse every time the metropolitan river rushes down towards the sea.
The flooding of other river courses also triggered alarms in various parts of the Girona regions. Castell-Platja d'Aro saw the Ridaura overflow, which as it passed through Santa Cristina d'Aro exceeded 300 cubic meters per second, a true outrage, a level equivalent to a return period of 100 years. Likewise, maximum alert was maintained in the Daró, an Empordà river that added a worrying black hue to its worrying flow as a result of the dragging of the ashes left by the Gavarres fire last July.
During the most intense hours of the storm, between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the emergency telephone number received an avalanche of calls, almost 8,000, concentrated in Barcelonès (43%), Maresme (20%), Vallès Oriental and Occidental (11% each) and Baix Llobregat (10%). However, for those who were on duty in the hospital emergency rooms it was not a particularly different night from another Saturday night, except that the downpour caused damage to some hospital centers: in the Catalan capital there were floods in Vall d'Hebron, where the radiology area and a section of neonates, a unit located in the Vall d'Hebron Maternity Hospital building, were disabled. In Bellvitge, although the surroundings of the hospital were flooded, water only entered one area of the cafeteria. In the General de Granollers there were effects until noon yesterday, so for hours patients who needed to travel there were referred to the hospitals of Mollet, Mataró, Vic or Sant Celoni. Cleaning and disinfection work also began yesterday afternoon after the flooding in the emergency area of the Blanes hospital, so some of the patients had to be treated on the upper floors of the hospital center and those who had an emergency were asked to access the hospital through the external visitor entrance.
The Department of Health of the Generalitat advised that, in case of doubts about the conditions of the Catalan hospitals, before traveling to one of them they should make their queries by calling the Salut Respon telephone number 061.
The activity of the Red Cross was also intense during the most difficult hours of the storm, in which they assisted 4,036 people. To do this, they mobilized a hundred volunteers and technicians and used 15 logistics vehicles, coordinated with emergency services and local administrations.
Due to the problems of travel and cancellations of journeys at railway stations and airports, the organization confirms that it provided assistance to 3,000 people at the Sants (2,000) and Tarragona (1,000) stations, where thousands of passengers were forced to spend the night due to train cancellations. At the Girona airport they also treated 800 people affected by the ravages of the storm. The Red Cross had to provide emergency accommodation and provide meals to 188 people in Barcelona, Mataró, Sant Cugat, Castelldefels, Terrassa, Santa Coloma de Cervelló and Tarragona, where the Palau Firal was used to house the human tower groups who could not return to their homes after participating in the Concurs de Castells yesterday. Late on Sunday, the Red Cross continued to care for people affected by the storm in different places in Catalonia.
President Illa's statements at noon yesterday, warning that the episode could not be considered over, but that everything indicated that the week could begin normally today, Monday, including attendance at work after the turbulent weekend, did not prevent many families from becoming concerned as they did not know if their children's schools had suffered damage and whether or not they would function normally.
We had to wait until late Sunday afternoon so that Ensenyament, and after collecting information from all the town councils, could report on the centers that will not be able to open this morning. These are, for the moment, the CFA Vallès (Granollers), the Ramon Turró i Darder institute (Malgrat de Mar), with water accumulated in its facilities; the Professional de Turisme Eqüestre del Maresme institute (Santa Susanna), which remains flooded; the CFA Jaume Tuset (Ripollet), where there are leaks in the roof and they do not have electricity so far, and the Mercè Rodoreda institute (l'Hospitalet). Two centers in Les Franqueses del Vallès, the Bellavista-Joan Camps i Giró and the Guerau de Liost school, with mud in the classrooms, as well as the Institut Mediterrània (El Masnou), where the wall that separates the center from the stream has been damaged, have the commitment of the municipal brigades to go first thing this morning to try to allow them to open normally. Ensenyament reported that there are another 24 centers with problems that will force them to modify their services today and another 63 that have different incidents. Likewise, they do not rule out that in the next few hours new problems may be discovered in other centers that have not yet been resolved that prevent the recovery of the usual dynamics.
Despite some momentary abandonments during the hours when the storm was worst, those camped by the house in Plaza Catalunya resisted as best they could and have expressed their intention not to stop the protest. Many of them decided to stop by their houses to change clothes and then return to the camp.
La Font del Gos, next to Collserola, in the Horta-Guinardó district, is used to suffering problems during episodes of heavy rain, as its neighbors have always reported. This time was no exception: access had to be cut off due to accumulation of water, and the Barcelona Firefighters had to resort to a boat to rescue a family.
Endesa reported that at 9:30 a.m., after the persistent rains on Saturday night, a total of 17,654 customers were without electricity supply. A total of 28 teams were working on medium and low voltage incidents. The damage was concentrated in Barcelona, Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Santa Cristina d'Aro and Cabrils.
Various city councils, including Barcelona, yesterday kept the public parks and gardens of their cities closed as a precaution despite the improvement in weather conditions. The green areas, like the municipal facilities, were inspected to check their condition and guarantee their opening in the next few hours.
Yesterday morning, a joint operation by the Generalitat Firefighters, the Civil Guard and the local police of Sant Adrià de Besòs managed to rescue three homeless people who had been trapped near the mouth of the Besòs, where they were spending the night, as a result of the sharp rise in the river's water level.
Nightlife is asking for help to compensate for the losses suffered on Saturday night, which amount to an average of 19,700 euros per venue, according to Betevé, due to the closure of venues. The Guild of Discotheques of Barcelona and Province considers “it is essential to define fair protocols that incorporate aid by decisions of the Administration.”
