Torrential rainfall hit Catalonia – Military deployed to assist with rescue efforts

What’s the latest from Catalonia:- Heavy rains hit Catalonia

• Torrential rainfall hit Catalonia as the search for two individuals is ongoing. After heavy flooding in Catalonia, prompting search operations along the Foix River near Cubelles.

• Heavy rains cause travel disruption, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has urged caution and restricted travel in multiple regions.

• Military units have been deployed to assist communities affected by the storm and aid rescue efforts.

• The national weather service reported extreme conditions, with rainfall leading to significant travel disruptions, hospital closures, and a plane incident due to hail damage.

Torrential rains hit Catalonia as Spanish Military deployed to assist with rescue efforts 

Two people were missing Saturday after torrential rains and floods in Catalonia in northeastern Spain.

Firefighters said they were searching along the banks and mouth of the Foix river for two people who went missing near the town of Cubelles, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Barcelona.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for “great caution” and urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in 10 northern and eastern regions that were on high alert on Saturday.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in several communities with warnings for heavy rains and storms,” Sanchez wrote on X.

The prime minister said troops from the Military Emergency Unit (UME) had already been deployed to municipalities in Aragon.

Heavy rains cause travel disruption

The national weather service, Aemet, said 10cm (four inches) had fallen near Barcelona in a matter of hours.

Catalonia and the neighbouring region of Aragon were under a red “extreme risk” alert due to rains that could see up to 60 litres per square meter fall in one hour, according to Aemet.Hundreds of people were stranded for hours on Saturday before services resumed.

As a precautionary measure, Renfe, Spain’s rail company, briefly suspended services throughout Catalonia on Saturday.

In Barcelona, roads were blocked, while a hospital had to refuse patients after it flooded.

A plane that took off from the city for the United States was forced to turn back after sustaining damage to its nose in a hail storm.Last year’s storm, which mostly affected Valencia, was one of the worst in Spain’s history

In October 2024, heavy rains and devastating floods in the eastern region of Valencia killed 225 people in the worst meteorological disaster in Spain in decades.

That rain storm, like the one currently affecting the country, was caused by a weather phenomenon known in Spain as a “cold drop” or DANA (Isolated Depression at High Levels), in which a mass of cold air drops over the warmer waters of the Mediterranean Sea.