Rescuers recovered the body of a man on Thursday in Olivella, about 40km west of Barcelona, after his car was carried away by a stream, Catalan firefighters said. They described finding the "lifeless body of a man" and corrected earlier reports that had identified the missing person as a woman. Catalonia’s emergency services said they had received more than 850 calls linked to the downpours and recorded over 500 incidents.
Spain’s national weather agency AEMET issued heavy rain warnings for eastern regions and placed Barcelona’s coastline on red alert. In Valencia, the meteorological association AVAMET reported more than 70mm of rain in just half an hour in several municipalities and said, "Rarely have we seen such rainfall accumulations in 30 minutes." Local emergency teams logged 478 incidents in Valencia province, mainly damage to property, leaks and traffic disruption.
Transport hubs were hit across the region. In Barcelona some metro stations were closed and buses diverted, regional train services were disrupted and operations at El Prat airport were delayed or cancelled. Valencia city suspended all metro lines and closed its airport for several hours, forcing flights to be diverted. A scheduled football match between Levante and Athletic Bilbao was postponed after the pitch and a players' tunnel were flooded.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cautioned about "very complicated situations" as rescue crews worked to clear flooded roads and assist stranded motorists. Authorities reiterated advice against non-essential travel while teams continue responding to hundreds of incidents.
Scientists noted the storms follow Spain’s hottest summer on record and an unusually warm start to September, and they said human-driven climate change is making Mediterranean autumn storms heavier by increasing heat and evaporation in the sea. The latest floods come less than two years after catastrophic flooding in Valencia that killed more than 230 people, underscoring the region’s vulnerability to extreme rainfall.
