The Government sends a new ES-Alert for torrential rain in the Baix Empordà

BarcelonaStreets flooded with water and full of mud and branches, some rivers and streams at their limit, and parking garages and in some cases schools with their ground floors flooded. Chaotic mobility, with Barcelona's Ronda de Dalt closed for five hours, a good part of the metro lines affected, trains running off-schedule, and some flights that could neither take off nor land at El Prat airport. This has been the scene experienced this Tuesday in a large part of the metropolitan area, the Anoia, and the Penedès, on a new day of torrential downpours that have once again strained the country. During the morning and midday, the downpours were in the metropolitan area, but this evening they moved to Girona, to the point that Civil Protection sent a new ES-Alert to the Baix Empordà for torrential rains until 9 p.m. in the northeast of the region.

Despite this, no major incidents or serious injuries have had to be lamented. The most delicate operation that the Generalitat Firefighters –who have had to attend to more than 700 calls and the 112 emergency service has received more than 1,500 calls throughout the day– have had to face was the rescue of a woman and her baby, only five months old, from inside a car that had become stuck in a stream in Gavà with a meter of water, when it is normally dry.

The storm peaked in the morning, prompting Civil Protection to send a new alert –they had already sent one on Monday night to a large part of the coast warning of the rains– notifying the Baix Llobregat, Alt Penedès, and Anoia regions to avoid travel and not to approach riverbeds. The storm has been moving towards the Barcelona conurbation, and has greatly complicated mobility around the Catalan capital. This afternoon, as explained by Civil Protection, the rain episode is losing intensity, but the warning for intense downpours remains in effect for the central and northern coast and pre-coastal areas of Catalonia until the evening.

Around 5 p.m., the Ronda de Dalt was reopened after being closed all morning at the height of Vall d'Hebron due to the flooding of the Caçador tunnel. During the day there were several sections without service, including some as busy as the L5, between Collblanc and Diagonal, the L4, between Verdaguer and Trinitat Nova, and the L3, between Liceu and Vall d'Hebron. At this moment, normality has already been recovered on all lines except for the L3—trains do not stop at Sants Estació or Lesseps in the direction of Zona Universitària—and the L4, which does not provide service between Verdaguer and Trinitat Nova. The water fell with force in Barcelona, to the point that the city's network of rainwater tanks has reached a level of 90% of its capacity.

In railway mobility, problems began early in the morning, even before the most significant downpours arrived, when Renfe announced that it was suspending the circulation of all high-speed trains and also regional ones, which cover medium-distance routes, between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. By midday, delays continued on high-speed lines and on some Rodalies lines due to temporary speed restrictions that Adif had requested because of the rains. On the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat network, there were also disruptions on the lines heading to Vallès and also those heading to Anoia.

Even El Prat Airport has recorded dozens of cancelled flights and delays this Tuesday morning coinciding with the rainstorm. By midday, around 100 flights have been cancelled, out of the more than 1,100 scheduled for this Tuesday.

Neighbors and merchants

Water has been a headache for those who have tried to move around the metropolitan area, but also for those who have stayed at home. In Sant Cugat del Vallès, for example, several neighbors have seen their parking lots flooded and several merchants claim they have lost thousands of euros worth of products they had for sale and stored material. The firefighters have had to help several people who had become stranded in the water in various parts of the territory.

Furthermore, although school activity has been maintained in a good part of the coast, three schools, located in Piera, Torrelles de Foix and Vilanova i la Geltrú, have had to close due to flooding. The deputy director of Civil Protection, Imma Solé, has explained that there have also been floods in various facilities such as nursing homes. In addition, she indicated that they have also been aware of 17 incidents in the electricity supply that have affected more than 2,000 subscribers, mainly in the Llobregat area.

The Government is also very attentive to river flows and reservoir levels, such as the Foix reservoir, which is being monitored, and citizens are asked not to approach the riverbed. This alert remains in place for most rivers and streams in the metropolitan area, and the warning not to approach them is reiterated. The flow of the Llobregat is also a concern, especially near Sant Vicenç dels Horts. Therefore, the authorities insist that in the coming hours, one must avoid going to riverbeds.

Since early in the morning, rains have been sweeping across several regions, but the main event has especially affected the entire coast and pre-coastal area of Barcelona, with authentic torrential downpours. In this densely populated area, many records of between 50 and 100 liters per square meter have been reached, but locally more, as is the case of Alt Penedès, where exceptionally more than 122 liters per square meter have been exceeded. Water that has fallen with force and in a short time, which has caused sudden rises in rivers and streams and numerous floods. The sea water is much warmer than it should be at this time of the year, making the downpours even more intense.

In the afternoon, the most marked instability has been concentrated mainly in the northeast of the country, where torrential downpours have been repeated and local records of more than 100 liters per square meter have been reached, such as in Cassà de la Selva (Gironès) or in Torroella de Montgrí (Baix Empordà). More or less, it has ended up raining in a large part of the country, with the exception of areas in Ponent. But the bulk of precipitation has been concentrated on the coast and the pre-coastal area, as well as in some points of the Pre-Pyrenees and the south face of the Pyrenees. An episode of autumn rains that has been accompanied by a cooling. Despite an improvement in the weather on Wednesday, the instability will continue in the coming days. reporting Xavi Segura.