A practically unprecedented storm has violently hit Catalonia on a critical night in Barcelona, several points in the metropolitan area and the surrounding coastal and pre-coastal regions. This Sunday morning, Civil Protection has sent a new ES-Alert due to the risk of overflowing the Besòs River to the citizens of Barcelona and the towns of Montcada i Reixac, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià del Besòs.
The last few hours have been complicated with flooding in various parts of the Catalan capital and the metropolitan area - especially municipalities such as L'Hospitalet or Cornellà, problems on the main access roads with many roads closed and a multitude of incidents.
In addition, several towns have set up reception centers for those people who cannot return home tonight due to cuts in public transport, especially on the railway network. For example, Sants station has been open all night - in the lobby the situation has been controlled despite the fact that water has arrived on the platforms - and those who need it will be allowed to stay overnight there. Until midnight, the EMS has treated around twenty people affected, none of them seriously.
The torrential rains, with record-breaking rainfall, are expected to continue throughout this Sunday towards the north and east, with Catalonia paralyzed by an unprecedented storm and with the alert for a possible mini Mediterranean hurricane.
Yesterday, Saturday, the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (Meteocat) raised the rain warning to the maximum danger level (6 out of 6) from this Saturday afternoon and this Sunday in the regions of Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona. In this sense, Civil Protection has asked to restrict all activities that involve mobility in twenty regions starting this afternoon and until Sunday in view of the forecast of an "exceptional" episode of rain. And this Saturday, early in the afternoon, an ES-Alert was sent to mobile phones in the Catalan coastal and pre-coastal area to warn of the limitations from today at 8:00 p.m. until tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.
The affected regions are: Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà, Alt Penedès, Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, Garraf, Garrotxa, Gironès, Pla de l'Estany, Vallès Occidental, Vallès Oriental, Maresme, Selva, Alt Camp, Baix Camp, Baix Penedès, Osona, Ripollès, Tarragonès i Moianes.
Specifically, the Generalitat has asked to limit travel unless it is essential, and has suspended activities in the natural environment, parks and gardens, sports or cultural activities, markets or fairs (common on weekends), and any activity specifically located in a flood zone. Measures that came into force at 8:00 p.m.
Several flights have been canceled and others are leaving up to four hours late from the Josep Terradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport as a result of the atmospheric conditions in several Catalan regions and over the sea.
Air traffic controllers have explained on social media that the airport is experiencing a "very complicated day due to the storms", which have forced traffic to be spaced out and, therefore, "to reduce the number of operations".
"Great encouragement to all airport staff and passengers and crews," say the controllers.
The successive warnings from the Generalitat and the Catalan meteorological service have led many businesses to advance their closing time, to postpone the housing demonstration planned in L'Hospitalet and to cancel theater performances (at the Palau de la Música or the Liceu, for example) and sports competitions. At the mobility level, Rodalies has suspended the service until tomorrow noon, except in the sections of the lines outside the risk zone, the same as the Regional and Medium Distance trains.
The Barcelona metro will stop providing service at 00:00 - it usually runs all night on Saturday -, while the Generalitat Railways have ended at 20:00 and will not operate, in principle, until Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
The director of Meteocat, Sara Sarroca, and the person responsible for forecasting this service, Santi Segalà, have explained that the models indicate that the rain situation that Catalonia is already experiencing "can become very complicated" in the coming hours, until reaching "an exceptional episode."
Segalà explained that all prediction models point to the creation of what is technically called a mesoscale convective system (MCS), which can cause "a mini Mediterranean hurricane."
This system will affect the coastal and pre-coastal regions of Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona, and could be extended tomorrow to regions in the interior of Girona.
Thus, rainfall can exceed 40 millimeters in 30 minutes, affecting the central Catalan coast this Saturday and also moving to the inland regions of Girona this Saturday.
Meteocat warns that in some of these points it can also exceed 90 millimeters in 3 hours and 200 millimeters in 24 hours, so there are active danger warnings of 5 out of 6.
The Meteocat warning affects this Saturday the regions of Alt and Baix Empordà, Pla de l'Estany, Garrotxa, Gironès, Selva, Maresme, Vallès Oriental and Occidental, Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat, Garraf, Alt Penedès, Baix Penedès, Alt Camp, Tarragonès and Baix Camp.
"Stay at home"
"Stay home." This is the message that the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has addressed to the Catalans of the twenty regions affected by the storm of rain and wind.
Already in the morning, the president asked citizens to respect the prevention measures decreed by Civil Protection starting this Saturday afternoon in response to the episode of rain in Catalonia with a "very complex meteorological situation."
This is what he said in his speech at the closing of the Dolors Renau Feminist School of the PSC this Saturday, where he warned that it is a "mini hurricane" that will affect the entire coastline and pre-coastal area.
"It's not a joke," remarked Illa, who insisted on taking the measures decreed seriously.
Rescues of people trapped in cars in Granollers
As a result of the heavy rains, this morning the Firefighters of Catalonia worked to rescue people who were trapped in their cars in a roundabout in Granollers that had flooded.
At the same time, they have evicted the four people of a family that lives on the ground floor of a single-family property from which the ceiling slab has detached due to water accumulation on the terrace in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona).
5,100 emergency calls
The emergency telephone number 112 has received until 7 a.m. this Sunday a total of 5,156 calls due to the strong storm that has affected Catalonia since yesterday, most of the municipalities of Barcelona.
As reported by this emergency service, a large part of the calls have been made from municipalities in Barcelona, up to 1,568, where the rain fell very heavily during the night.
One of the towns most affected was l'Hospitalet de Llobregat during the night, with 725 calls.
Other towns from which more notifications have been made to this emergency telephone number are Mataró (395), Cornellà (196), Badalona (153) and Granollers (158).
On the other hand, the rains have flooded some roads and some landslides have occurred, such as on the C-16, in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona), as reported by the Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT).
The accumulation of water has forced the B-10 to be cut in both directions and the B-20 in Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona) in the south direction.
