Mediterranean storms cause flooding, flight cancellations and suspension of classes

The storm that hits the Mediterranean coast has caused flooding on roads, cancellation of flights and incidents on public transport this Wednesday. Among the most important incidents are the closure of the Valencia Airport and the collapse of a false ceiling at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital, whose basement has flooded. Given this situation, the Generalitat Valenciana has activated the yellow level hydrological pre-emergency in the Carraixet-Calderona area, which affects the northern districts of Valencia and has established situation 1 of the Special Flood Plan (PEI). It has also sent an Es-alert to mobile phones on the north and south coast of the province of Valencia. In Catalonia, Civil Protection has sent another Es-alert message to mobile phones in the regions of Barcelonès and Maresme (Barcelona). The Junta de Andalucía has activated the emergency phase, operational situation 1, of the Emergency Plan for the Risk of Floods in Almería and has subsequently sent an Es-alert.

Large accumulations in Valencia

In Valencia, a strong storm with intense downpours and abundant lightning surprised numerous drivers late in the afternoon, forced some sections of the metro network to be cut and suspended the LaLiga match between Levante and Athletic Bilbao. In addition, Valencia Airport has had to be closed due to flooding. So far two flights have been diverted and Aena indicates in its X account that passengers should check with their airline about the status of their flight.

According to the Valencia Traffic Management Center, the intense rain has forced traffic speeds to be reduced on roads such as the Valencia bypass, the CV-35 and the A-3 and A-7 highways. Sources have highlighted that the increase in traffic on these roads is due both to the intensity of some downpours and to the reduction in visibility for drivers. Metrovalencia, for its part, has reported that the rain is causing problems on several lines and, specifically, on L1 and L2, circulation is interrupted between Empalme and Bétera and between Empalme and Llíria, and there are widespread delays on all lines.

According to the Valencian Association of Meteorology (Avamet), very intense storms are already being recorded in the south of Castellón and the north of Valencia, with lightning and rain records such as 85 l/m2 in L'Eliana-Pinaeta del Cel, 70 of which have fallen in just half an hour, between 8:25 p.m. and 8:55 p.m. Other important records so far, also reported from Avamet meters, are 59 l/m2 from Chiva, 56 from Calicanto and Llíria, 50 from L'Eliana, 47 from Domeño, 44 ​​from Riba-roja de Túria, 38 from Benaguasil, 37 from La Pobla de Vallbona and 33 from Montanejos/Alpuente.

Impacts on transport in Catalonia

In Catalonia, heavy rains have caused several incidents on the road network in the Barcelona area, mainly and effects on the Rodalies service. In the road network, the B-20 is closed at Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona) in the north direction, towards Mataró (Barcelona) due to flooding of the road and only has one lane open in the south direction, towards Barcelona, the Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT) has reported in a message in X.

There is also slowness on the C-58 between Ripollet and Barcelona and on the C-33 between Llagosta and Barcelona due to the rain. On the railway network, circulation is interrupted between the Fabra i Puig and Montcada Bifurcació stations "due to adverse weather conditions", indicated Rodalies in

At the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport there are at least 23 flights canceled and dozens delayed. In addition, the basements of the three buildings of the Vall d'Hebron Hospital have flooded and a part of the false ceiling has fallen in the children's nephrology ward. The patients have not been affected. In Girona, there has been a strong hailstorm.

Classes suspended in Murcia