Flooding sweeps cars into sea in north-east Spain

2 September 2021, 18:04

Spain Floods
Spain Floods. Picture: PA

The flash flooding in Alcanar quickly turned streets into rivers that swept away everything in their path.

The north-eastern Spanish town of Alcanar is surveying the damage to homes and businesses caused by flooding produced by intense rain that fell on large areas of the country.

Residents said they were fortunate no lives were lost when more than 250 litres per square metre of rain fell on the town between midnight and 6pm on Wednesday.

“We had to get upstairs to our apartment and then leave it all in God’s hands,” said Rosa Maria Sancho, the 67-year-old owner of a restaurant on the Alcanar boardwalk.

The flash flooding quickly turned streets into rivers that swept away everything in their path.

Several cars were carried away and around a dozen ended up in the surf of the Mediterranean Sea.

Homes and businesses were filled with mud, water and debris.

Ms Sancho’s daughter Carla Bayerri said they watched helplessly as “part of the terrace went into the sea”.

Spain Floods
Wrecked cars in the sea (Joan Mateu Parra/AP)

The flash flooding, dangerous in some eastern parts of Spain since Wednesday, did not lead to any direct casualties, but two young German women drowned when they went swimming in the sea on the tourist island of Mallorca.

The victims were 23 and 25. They were part of a larger group of seven people, all German nationals, who were swimming after 2am, National Police and the island’s emergency services said.

Other parts of Spain’s central and northern areas, including Madrid, also saw flooding on Wednesday.

Firefighters used a helicopter to rescue three people in serious danger. More had to be pulled from cars caught in the rising waters.

Regional authorities moved 58 residents into hotels, while another 16 spent the night on camp beds in a sports pavilion. Four people had to be rescued at a nearby camping ground that was also badly damaged.

Paquita Aubalat was relieved that her 93-year-old father Vicent was rescued from his home in Alcanar by a neighbour when it was overwhelmed by water.

Spain Floods
Firefighters check wrecked cars on the shore( Joan Mateu Parra/AP)

“He had all his life in (his home), but the important thing is that he is safe,” Ms Aubalat said.

Authorities are working to re-establish traffic on roads and rail lines made unpassable by mud and water.

Large areas of Spain’s north and the Balearic Islands remain under alert for storms for a second consecutive day.

Spain’s national weather service said the country is seeing an increase of heavy rain and drought linked to climate change.

“Spain is observing, above all in points of the Mediterranean, periods of torrential rain that are more intense and longer periods of drought that are interrupted by these intense rains,” spokesman Ruben del Campo said.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’

The vehicle was later extinguished after the driver, covered in flames, emerged from the vehicle.

Amsterdam Dam Square car explosion sees driver engulfed in flames - just days after mass stabbing

d

Pictured: US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for world's most isolated tribe

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world

US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for the world's most isolated tribe to try

The Trump administration has been ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

'No one is safe, not even the penguins': Trump administration ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

World leaders react to US tariffs

'This is not the act of a friend': World leaders react to Trump's 'unwarranted' tariffs

British couple

British couple found dead in New Zealand named - as police probe possible murder-suicide

Virginia Giuffre said she had been left with 'four days to life' after the crash

Bus driver breaks silence on Virginia Giuffre crash that left her 'with four days to live'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

David Lammy to urge Nato allies to increase defence spending in bid to make alliance 'stronger, fairer and more lethal'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU threatens further countermeasures against US tariffs after 'major blow to world economy'

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' as Apprentice star teases potential US Presidential meeting

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' and warns that the president 'hasn't thought it through'

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza

Israel expands ground attack on Gaza to seize 'large areas' - despite pleas from hostage families

Police said two people died on Palliser Road, Roseneath.

British couple found dead at home in New Zealand - just months after moving to 'begin new chapter'

Virginia Giuffre warned it was a "very bad situation" after she claimed a school bus ploughed into her car

Virginia Giuffre was charged with breaching restraining order days before crash that 'left her with days to live'