They are looking for a woman who has fallen into the stream in Cabrera de Mar in the middle of the storm

BarcelonaCatalonia is once again suffering a critical rainstorm. The downpours this Saturday evening have fallen mainly in the Vallès Oriental and Maresme areas, where what is, for now, the most serious incident of this storm has occurred. A team made up of the Generalitat Fire Department, Mossos d'Esquadra, and Maritime Rescue is working on the search for a woman who, according to several witnesses, reportedly fell into the stream in Cabrera de Mar shortly before eight in the evening. The operation continued throughout the night and is continuing this Sunday morning, expanding the search radius to the river mouth at the sea.

The mayor of Cabrera, Òscar Fernández, explained in statements to 3Cat that a family had tried to cross the stream and that the water had swept away a woman. The mayor noted that they have doubled the personnel in order to find her "as soon as possible" and that the operation was reinforced this Sunday morning when the sun came up. The woman, aged about 35, tried to cross the stream with her children after attending a basketball game at the municipal pavilion. Fire Department sources point out that a piece of clothing has been located near the mouth of the river, as well as a handbag. For now, it is not clear that they belong to the missing person and the family cannot confirm it, as the objects are in poor condition. The stream filled up suddenly because 57 liters fell in the municipality in less than an hour.

Beyond the search in Cabrera de Mar, the Generalitat Fire Department has received 67 alerts between 2:00 PM and 10:00 PM due to the storm. During the early morning, they attended to 28 more alerts. In parallel, 367 calls were made to the 112 emergency service until seven o'clock this Sunday morning. Among the emergency actions carried out, it was necessary to rescue two elderly people who had been trapped inside their vehicle by water in Sentmenat, in the Vallès Occidental region. They also evacuated an elderly person and a pregnant woman from a flooded house in Sant Esteve Sesrovires (Baix Llobregat) this Saturday night.

The firefighters also helped occupants of cars that were driving along the A-2 in Abrera and Martorell at a time when the rain was falling heavily in the area. Among the actions taken, there was also the rescue of seven people from their homes due to water accumulation in Martorell. The downpours also caused 45 cancellations at El Prat airport, which has now returned to normal.

Attentive to the streams

The streams have been, once again, one of the main critical points of the storm. Shortly before nine in the evening, Civil Protection issued a hydrological warning due to the possibility of flash floods in the Maresme. Also, the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, insisted on their social networks on the call not to approach the streams. A message that also appeared in the ES-Alerts that throughout the day have once again reached the phones in the country's coastal regions.

The downpour that fell over the Baix Maresme in a short time was very significant. This is demonstrated by data from the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, which point out that in places like Cabrils, the storm has left record figures. In just 10 minutes, 37.88 liters were exceeded, surpassing the 36.8 that fell in La Bisbal del Penedès on October 1st, which until now were the most significant mark recorded by the Network of Meteorological Stations. In total, 73 liters fell in Cabrils.

In other municipalities of the Maresme such as Premià, Cabrera de Mar, and Vilassar de Mar, it has also rained heavily. In the case of Vilassar, the downpour has flooded the N-II. The episode of rain had begun earlier in the afternoon in the La Selva region, where 47 liters have been recorded in Massanes, 40 in Santa Coloma de Farners, and 30 in Fornells de la Selva.

Granollers hit again

The heavy rains have also been felt intensely in the Vallès Oriental and Occidental regions. In the case of the former, the capital, Granollers, has once again been hit by torrential rain after already being one of the cities most affected by the rains two weeks ago. Civil Protection has sent a specific ES-Alert to the city in the Vallès area to ask citizens to avoid travel, not to approach rivers, streams, and ravines, not to go down into basements, and to move to upper floors if water enters.

Early in the afternoon, Civil Protection had already sent ES-Alert messages to recommend caution to citizens and to limit mobility in the face of the rain in the regions of Maresme, Vallès Oriental, and La Selva, and in Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat, Garraf, and Vallès Occidental. In the case of the latter four, the forecast is that the strongest storms will arrive well into the night and will mainly affect coastal neighborhoods. At eleven o'clock at night, in fact, Civil Protection extended the hydrological risk alert for rising rivers also to the regions of Vallès Occidental and Baix Llobregat.

Although the fact that it was the weekend minimized the impact, the storm also had an effect on mobility. In addition to the flooding on the N-II in the Maresme, preventive action was also taken on the rail network to avoid major damage. Renfe temporarily suspended the R2 South rail service starting at 10 p.m. and diverted regional trains through Vilafranca. In Barcelona, TMB has installed for the first time anti-flood barriers at one of the entrances to the Parc Logístic station on metro line 9.