Flash flood emergency: at least one dead amid heavy disruption

Heavy rains swept through Catalonia on Tuesday night, with flash floods leaving at least one person dead, five people missing and causing major disruption throughout the country.

A 70-year-old man was found dead on the beach at Caldes d'Estrac, north of Barcelona, on Wednesday morning after torrential waters carried him off while he attempted to retrieve his car in the nearby town of Arenys de Munt.

Meanwhile, a 69-year-old woman and her son aged 42 are missing after the Francolí river swept their bungalow away in Vilaverd, in southern Catalonia. A rescue operation to find the pair involving helicopters, divers and dogs began at first light.

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Another two people had gone missing in l'Espluga de Francolí while driving during the rains. At 9 am a relative reported the pair missing, and firefighters later found an abandoned car and were trying to discover if it belongs to the pair in question.

A 35-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter in a flooded campsite in Gualba, near Barcelona, required medical attention for light wounds and were taken to Sant Celoni hospital.

By 6:30 pm a Belgian truck driver was confirmed as the fifth missing person following the torrential downpour. 

Several train services were suspended, and close to Vinaixa, in the western county of Garrigues, a goods train was derailed after a section of railway had sunk into the ground. The driver was taken to hospital but later discharged.

At 10:30 am, Catalonia's traffic service, Trànist, announced that 46, mostly local, roads were out of action.

In Espluga de Francolí, in the south, dozens of fallen trees blocked the roads around the town.

Some 20 schools around Catalonia had to remain closed due to the effects of the bad weather, while some 30 school bus routes were suspended, particularly in the western region of Lleida.

Emergencies across Catalonia

Firefighters, who responded to some 2,000 emergencies, evacuated at least 42 people from their homes as some buildings collapsed due to the heavy rains. Meanwhile, some 24,000 households were left without any power.

The Catalan government's Civil Protection agency raised the Inuncat flood plan to emergency levels after “serious” weather-related incidents were reported at 11:45 pm. By 9:30 am on Wednesday the 112 emergency line had received over 3,000 calls.

Catalan interior minister, Miquel Buch, said the authorities hoped to lower the emergency level of the Inuncat flood plan at midday, as the "front is moving on" and he added that rain of the intensity seen yesterday was not expected during the rest of the day.

Barcelona: metro station flooded

Barcelona was also affected, with local firefighters answering 259 emergency calls in the early hours.

Metro trains could temporarily not stop at the Paral•lel station because of water on the tracks, while many traffic lights in the center had stopped working.