Parts of Catalonia are on high alert for heavy rain as rescuers continue their searches in Valencia after Spain’s worst flash floods in modern history left at least 217 people dead.
The extreme weather prompted authorities to suspend commuter rail services and redirect flights to and from Barcelona yesterday, with the city’s El Prat airport suffering extensive flooding.
Tuesday’s yellow weather warning issued by Spain’s meteorological office shows areas of Catalonia, including the city of Girona, could see around 40mm of rain in a matter of hours today.
It comes after heavy rain in nearby Barcelona yesterday saw Spanish transport minister Oscar Puente said he was suspending all commuter trains in north-east Catalonia, a region with eight million people, at the request of civil protection officials.
Mr Puente said the rains had forced air traffic controllers to change the course of 15 flights operating at Barcelona’s airport, located on the southern flank of the city. Passengers have been warned to expected continued delays on Tuesday.
Several major roads were closed due to flooding, with many cars left abandoned and partially submerged.
British citizens have been advised by the Foreign Office to check the latest weather warnings from Spain’s meteorological office before they travel to Spain and follow instructions from local authorities.
A statement by the Foreign Office said: “Severe weather and flooding is affecting many areas of southern and eastern Spain, particularly the Valencia region and Castilla La Mancha. Journeys may be affected.
“Check the latest weather warnings from Spain’s meteorological office before you travel and follow instructions from local authorities.”
Meanwhile, in Valencia, the search continued for bodies inside houses and thousands of wrecked cars strewn in the streets, on roads, and in canals that channeled last week’s floods into populated areas.
Spain’s interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that authorities remain unable to give a reliable estimate of the number of missing people. Spanish national television RTVE, however, has broadcast pleas for help by several desperate people whose loved ones are unaccounted for.
In the Aldaia municipality, some 50 soldiers, police and firefighters, some wearing wetsuits, searched in a huge shopping centre’s underground parking lot for possible victims.
They used a small boat and spotlights to move around in the huge structure with vehicles submerged in at least a metre of murky water.
Police spokesman Ricardo Gutiérrez told reporters that so far some 50 vehicles had been found and no bodies had been discovered there.
The Bonaire shopping mall’s 1,800 underground parking spaces quickly filled with water and mud on Tuesday and Wednesday when the southern outskirts of Valencia were hit by a tsunami-like flooding. Emergency workers have used four pumps to remove the water.
Members of the public have volunteered to assist with the extensive clean-up effort alongside thousands of soldiers and police officers.
Spain is used to autumn storms that can lead to flooding, but the latest ones have produced the deadliest flooding in living memory for Spaniards.
European football body Uefa said a minute’s silence would be held at club competition matches “in memory of the victims” of the floods. Real Madrid and Barcelona are due to play tonight and on Wednesday, respectively.
There has been anger across Spain at an alleged lack of warning of the floods and insufficient support from authorities towards the victims.
On Sunday, the king and queen of Spain were pelted with mud by angry protesters during a visit to the town of Paiporta – one of the worst-affected in the Valencia region.
The civil guard has opened an investigation in to the scenes.
Additional reporting by AP
