Dana Alice punishes Montsià and puts four other regions on guard

BarcelonaDana Alice is hitting Terres de l'Ebre hard this Sunday afternoon, especially the Montsià region. The rainstorm has left images of streets turned into ravines in towns such as La Ràpita, Santa Bàrbara, and Godall, three of the hardest hit by this episode. In all of them, scenes were inevitably reminiscent of those experienced in the Valencian Community a year ago, with water rising a foot up the facades of houses and cars and containers being swept away. Given the uncertainty surrounding the rainy season, the Government—which had already sent an alert to mobile phones in Montsià this afternoon urging people to avoid travel—has declared a state of emergency in the regions of Montsià, Baix Ebre, Ribera d'Ebre, Baix Camp, and Terra Alta, and all classes have been suspended.

Despite rain in the area for practically the entire day, the situation in Montsià became more complicated in the afternoon when the storm suddenly intensified and remained stationary for a long time in the same spot. In Mas de Barberans, for example, more than 80 liters per square meter of rain fell in less than an hour. This caused the ravines to overflow, creating a "complicated" situation, in the words of Cristina Vicente, Head of Civil Protection Operations. The epicenter of the crisis has been in the municipalities of La Ràpita, Godall, and Santa Bàrbara, but throughout the area, there have been increasing calls for vehicle entrapment and flooded basements. However, there are no reports of injuries or people swept away by the water so far. The Generalitat (Catalan Government) is sending all possible resources to the area to respond to the emergencies.

One of the firefighters' main tasks was rescuing people who had become blocked on the roads, especially on the AP-7 highway, which had been blocked and many vehicles were trapped. The rain also forced the closure of the C-12 highway in Tortosa, the N-340 highway between Amposta and Alcanar, the TP-3311 highway between Santa Bárbara and La Galera, and the T-331 highway between Ulldecona and Santa Bárbara. Regarding rail traffic, Renfe suspended train departures from Barcelona and Valencia on the Mediterranean Corridor. A train was also stopped in Ulldecona, as the rains flooded the railway track and forced the closure of line R16. After 11 p.m., the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) were coordinating the evacuation of a train with passengers in Ulldecona that could not move due to the state of the track.

Therefore, Civil Protection insisted at all times that people who are at home do not move and recommended that those at low altitudes try to go up to upper floors. "Let's stay at home, please," he said. Through his X account, the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, also called for maximum caution and to avoid unnecessary travel.

At the last minute, it was still raining heavily in the area. Given that the rainy season is expected to be even more intense in the coming hours in southern Catalonia, the Government has announced that this Monday all activities will be suspended in educational centers in the regions of Montsià, Baix Ebre, Ribera d'Ebre, Baix Camp, and Terra Alta. All non-urgent health activities have also been suspended. The Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, has also recommended that everyone who can work remotely. Also in the Valencian Community, several municipalities in L'Horta de València have decided to suspend classes this Monday. In the case of the city of Valencia, this has been done only in schools located in flood zones.

"Historic" flood

The situation in the affected municipalities—some of which have been left without streetlights—is tense. In statements to 3Cat, the mayor of Santa Bárbara, Josep Lluís Gimeno, considered that this is a "historic flood", even "much more powerful" than the one that the area suffered at the end of October 2000. "The amount of water that is coming down is difficult for anyone to have seen coming down, the president of the Generalitat and the Spanish government delegation in Catalonia since before 7 p.m.

The mayor of Godall, Alexis Albiol, also considered that the downpour this Sunday in his municipality is unprecedented. Both he and Gimeno have emphasized ensuring everyone's safety today, but also thinking about all the work that will be done starting this Monday to return to normal. In addition to having heavy machinery ready to remove the cars that have been swept away by the stream, and starting to repair damage, the mayors are concerned about the impact that this storm may have had on the countryside just as the citrus harvest season begins and Olives for olive oil.

For this Monday, Civil Protection maintains the Inuncat plan alert, and Meteocat has yellow warnings active, especially in the south of the country but also in the rest of the central coast and the northern third due to the risk of downpours. Aemet also has alerts activated in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community.