A child died and his father disappeared in Alt Penedès due to the storm

BarcelonaThe storm of intense rainfall in Catalonia has caused the death of a child aged approximately 11 or 12 and the disappearance of his father in Sant Quintí de Mediona, in the Alt Penedès region, after the car they were traveling in was swept away by a stream. The child's body was found a few minutes before 10 p.m. in the Bitlles River, in Sant Pere de Riudebitlles. "Based on the evidence we have from the police investigation, it is the child's father," said the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, who appeared before the media from Sant Quintí de Mediona. Parlon explained that the man tried to cross a watery crossing despite warnings from neighbors not to do so: "They told him not to cross, but he did." The sudden rise in water swept away the car, which became stuck in a playground.

At 6:30 p.m., a witness alerted the emergency services that a vehicle with two occupants inside was swept away by torrential water. A helicopter located the car a few minutes later, about a kilometer from the location of the alert. When the emergency team, made up of scuba divers, was able to access it, it was empty. More than twenty teams began the search for the two missing men, and almost three hours later, the child's body was found in the Bitlles River. During the night, more than eighty personnel will continue the search for the missing father. "This is what we wanted to avoid," explained the Fire Brigade's on-duty chief, José Luís López, referring to the warning that people should stay away from "rivers" and "torrents," where the water levels rise suddenly. This stream in the Alt Penedès region where the two people disappeared is one of those that registered a sudden rise in water levels on Sunday afternoon as a result of the severe storms. In this regard, Parlon has defended the fact that the population was not warned through ES-Alert alerts: "It couldn't have been predicted, the population has been warned, and a very intensive campaign has been carried out."

Impacts nationwide

This Sunday's rainfall has affected the entire country, causing problems at El Prat Airport (which has canceled several flights and caused delays on others) and on the commuter rail network and the country's highways. Furthermore, heavy rainfall has fallen in inland regions, such as Bages and Anoia: the storms have accumulated 129 l/m.²in Montserrat (Sant Dimes) and 115 l/m²In Rellinars, the rains were torrential, with 45 liters of rain falling in just half an hour. In Port del Comte, the figure reached 112 liters per month.² and in Sabadell more than 77 l/m².

In fact, the Generalitat Fire Department had to evacuate 27 people from the upper station of the Sant Joan funicular railway in Montserrat because the service was not operating due to obstacles on the track. Firefighters went to pick them up in vehicles along the road to the viewpoint, which is not accessible by private transport. They also rescued 14 hikers to help them cross a torrent of water on the Sant Benet path, and another five people were located in El Bruc.

The Sunday afternoon rain also caused several landslides, both in inland towns and along the coast. It also trapped vehicles, such as a car that was flooded under a pass in Vilanova del Camí. In Sant Jaume de Enveja (Montsià), a school wall collapsed.

Throughout the afternoon, Civil Protection recommended avoiding roads and, above all, not parking or driving through streams or areas prone to flooding, especially in the Llobregat and Besòs basins. "More storms are coming, and we must ask the public to be responsible. The situation can change very quickly, and what seems safe can become complicated," warned López before learning that two people were missing.

In Barcelona, the storm also hit hard. Tibidabo Park was without power at times, and many users had to take shelter in covered areas, unable to leave the facilities.

Railway lines have also been affected by the rain. For example, traffic on Railway Line R5 between Monistrol and Castellbell i el Vilar was cut off due to trees falling on the overhead lines and another tree falling on a carriage. Service on this line was restored Monday morning after the obstacles had been removed from the tracks. On Sunday afternoon, there were also disruptions, with delays of more than half an hour, on lines R2 Sur, R14, R15, R16, and R17. On Line R11, trains had to run on a single track due to a tree falling on the tracks between Maçanet-Massanes and Caldes de Malavella (Selva).

As for El Prat Airport, flights to Lisbon, Porto, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Milan, Rome, Basel, Nice, and Brussels have been canceled. In addition, according to Aena, there have been flight delays to Amsterdam, Milan, Venice, Lisbon, Casablanca, Rabat, Copenhagen, Rome, Florence, Paris, London, Porto, Hamburg, Vienna, Istanbul, Geneva, and Zurich, among others.

The 112 emergency line has received more than 700 calls during the day.