Floods trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain on Sunday as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza.
Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles.
National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180 millimetres of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro river delta.
Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped "inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors".
The mayor of the town of Santa Barbara, Josep Lluis Gimeno, told regional television station 3Cat the situation was "very tense" as the night brought heavier deluges.
Local streams and ravines "are completely overflowing and have invaded the entire centre of the town, dragging everything there is, containers and cars", he said.
To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.
01:39
In the village of Godall, mayor Alexis Albiol spoke of "a moment of chaos", telling 3Cat: "All the cars that were in the streets near the ravine were swept away and are distributed throughout the village."
"I don't believe anyone in the village has seen the amount of water that has fallen in such a short time," Albiol added.
A measuring station in nearby Mas de Barberans recorded almost 272 millimetres of rainfall over the weekend, regional weather monitor Meteocat said.
There were nonetheless no reports of people hurt or missing.
Motorists trapped
All trains travelling through the Mediterranean corridor from Barcelona and Valencia, Spain's second and third-largest cities respectively, were suspended until further notice, national railway company Renfe announced.
Local media published footage of emergency services rescuing drivers who were trapped on a flooded motorway outside the town of Amposta.
Catalan emergency services published data on the calls they had received showing a sharp spike from 5:00 pm (1500 GMT), with 998 cases generated.
Read moreIn 2024 Europe faced its most widespread flooding since 2013
Catalonia's civil protection service extended its mass telephone alert, urging residents to avoid travelling and approaching waterways, to an area encompassing around 100 kilometres (62 miles) on and near the coast.
The leader of Catalonia's regional government, Salvador Illa, said all educational, sporting and social activities would be suspended on Monday in five especially vulnerable regions, urging their residents to avoid travelling and work from home.
The downpours came after the eastern Valencia region, which suffered Spain's deadliest floods in decades last year, emerged relatively unscathed from another red alert that started on Friday.
But some municipalities devastated by last year's disaster cancelled school and outdoor activities planned for Monday due to a fresh rain warning.
Flooding struck the popular holiday island of Ibiza on Saturday for the second time in two weeks as the storm moved east and north into the Mediterranean after drenching southeastern Spain.
Because a hotter atmosphere holds more water that evaporates from a rapidly warming Mediterranean Sea, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall in the region.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
English (US) · 