Alert in the Ebro: the damaging Alice punishes Montsià
The government suspends classes on Monday in five southern regions of the country.
BarcelonaFloodwater Alice is hitting the Ebro River hard this Sunday afternoon, especially in the Montsià region. The rain storm has left images of streets turned into streams in towns such as La Ràpita, Santa Bàrbara, and Godall, three of the hardest hit by this episode. All of them witnessed scenes 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 suspended activities in schools in the Montsià, Baix Ebre, Ribera d'Ebre, Baix Camp, and Terra Alta regions this Monday.
Given the severity of this afternoon's downpours, the Catalan government convened the Catalan Operational Coordination Center (CECAT), which was attended remotely by the President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa. In an emergency appearance this afternoon, the head of Civil Protection Operations, Cristina Vicente, acknowledged that the situation is "complicated." The epicenter of the crisis is in the municipalities of Godall and Santa Bárbara. 126 reports have been received so far regarding entrapment in vehicles and flooded basements, among other incidents. However, there are no reports of injuries or people swept away by the water. The Generalitat (Catalan Government) is sending all possible resources to the area to respond to the emergencies.
Vicente insisted that people at home stay put and recommended that those at a low point try to get to higher floors. "Let's stay home, please," he said. Through his X account, the president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, also urged maximum caution and the avoidance of unnecessary travel.
Preventing movement is the priority right now to avoid further damage to the population. So far, the rain has forced the closure of the AP-7 highway in both directions between Freginals and Udellcona, 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 Bàrra. In some cases, firefighters had to intervene to move vehicles that had become blocked on the road with people inside. Regarding rail traffic, Renfe has suspended train departures to Barcelona and Valencia on the Mediterranean Corridor. A train has also been stopped in Ulldecona, as the rains flooded the railway track and forced the closure of line R16.
With the forecast for continued heavy rainfall in the coming hours in southern Catalonia, the Catalan government has announced that school activities in the regions of Montsià, Baix Ebre, Ribera d'Ebre, Baix Camp, and Terra Alta will be suspended this Monday.
"Historic" flood
The situation in the affected municipalities—some of which have no 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.
