Firefighters find dead person inside car in inland town after heavy rain

Catalan firefighters found the dead body of a person inside a car on Wednesday afternoon in the inland town of Ullastrell after Tuesday's heavy rain.

The vehicle could have been dragged by the floods registered on Tuesday afternoon in the town outside of Barcelona. 

Authorities received the warning at 7:09 pm, and three units went to the scene accompanied by Mossos d'Esquadra police, which is investigating the site.

207 incidents

The Catalan Fire Department attended to 207 incidents between 1-11 pm on Tuesday due to the intense episode of rain across much of Catalonia.

In cities such as Terrassa, where rainfall has caused numerous incidents, around 87 mm of rain fell between 3-5 pm.

The majority of incidents that firefighters attended to occurred in the central regions, while plenty were also seen in the northern areas of Catalonia.

The 112 emergency services number received 455 calls related to 321 incidents by 10 pm.

Most of the services the fire brigade were alerted to were for floods and leaks, but agents also had to activate the Underwater Special Action Group to rescue people trapped by sudden floods, although serious personal damage was not reported in any of the incidents.

Intense rainfall was seen in towns such as Terrassa (46.9 mm of rain in 30 minutes), Vacarisses (36.2 mm), Òdena (32.4 mm) and Fornells de la Selva (29.5 mm.)

Major roads blocked off

Two major metropolitan roads, B-40 and C-16, were blocked off on Tuesday afternoon after the very intense downpour in Terrassa.

Four kilometers of B-40 were closed off at 4.15 pm at La Roca del Vallès due to the flooding caused by the rain.

Parts of the center of the inland city were flooded, causing great difficulty for vehicles to pass.

Terrassa slowly returning to normal

Residents of Terrassa could be found shoveling out mud and removing buckets of water from their homes and garages on Wednesday morning. 

The local council has opened an information desk to help those affected by the flooding at the Oficina d'Atenció Ciutadana bureau located at Plaça Didó square. 

The storm displaced the members of one household after the ceiling of their home on Galvani street collapsed. Cristina Guillem, who was forced to leave, said that her home's "ceiling was already damaged" and that water had flooded her living room.

Guillem saw how water entered her flat from the ceiling, the stairs, and the electrical installation.

"We spent 45 minutes removing buckets of water, but despite this, the water kept coming," she said to the Catalan News Agency (ACN), explaining that the firefighters had had to come.

Rosa Reich, who lives in the city's Maurina neighborhood, came back home from her trip to the seaside town of Blanes earlier than planned. 

"Everything is full of mud, look at it. We also checked our flat as they said it hailed yesterday, but it's fine," she said to ACN.

The strength of water dragged parked cars and motorcycles close to the river, but also containers and construction materials belonging to BigMat, a private company. The company is still "assessing the damages, but the economic loses could be between €15,000 and €16,000," Ruben Morales, the head of sales told ACN.