The storm leaves floods, fallen trees and traffic and train disruptions in Tarragona

BarcelonaTarragona suffered this Monday afternoon the brunt of the storm that affected the country. A violent hailstorm left rarely seen images in the city, with strong gusts of wind and large hailstones. The most intense rains lasted a few minutes, but they were enough for the water to flow down streets in El Serrallo such as Sant Pere and Gravina. Furthermore, lines R14, R15, and RT-1 were cut between Móra la Nova and Reus due to the rain. One lane of the AP-7 in the northbound direction at the height of Tarragona was also affected, having to be closed due to fallen trees on the road, which caused a five-kilometer tailback.

This Tuesday morning, the affected Rodalies lines have restored circulation after the rains, which have left almost 89 liters per square meter and 769 calls to 112. Specifically, in Vinyols i els Arcs, 88.6 liters have fallen in just three hours, and the Meteorological Service has registered wind gusts of 117 kilometers per hour in Estanh Redon, Lleida, and hailstones of more than five centimeters in diameter in some parts of Cerdanya and Ribera d'Ebre.

The Meteorological Service issued yesterday a 6 out of 6 violent weather warning, alerting to the risk of hail stones larger than two centimeters in diameter, wind gusts of more than 25 meters per second, squalls, tornadoes or waterspouts. Given the intensity of the storm, Civil Protection requested that extreme precautions be taken, especially during travel and that flood-prone areas not be crossed. Between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., the Firefighters had already received 162 calls, the vast majority of them in the province of Tarragona, a total of 141, of which 105 were in the capital.

The majority of incidents have been fallen trees and branches, small floods, and sparking cables. The heavy rainfall caught some pigeons in Tarragona by surprise, many of whom lost their lives due to the impact of the hailstorm.

The meteorological forecast already warned that the Atlantic disturbance located off the coasts of Portugal and Galicia would send a front that would generate unstable weather in Catalonia from midday this Monday, with locally intense storms accompanied by large hail.

Before the storm reached Tarragona, the front of storms accompanied by hail had already affected fruit crops in various municipalities of Segrià such as Almenar, Corbins, Albatàrrec and Lleida city, in addition to parts of Cerdanya such as Llívia or Puigcerdà. This is the most virulent hailstorm of the season, both in terms of the size of the hail —in some cases more than two centimeters in diameter— and the affected area.