Storms in Catalonia: Two Dead, Record Rain and a River Over the Danger Line

Torrential rain caused severe flooding in Catalonia on Sunday. Two people died and one was reported missing. In Tordera a person was killed when a wall collapsed at a campsite; in Montornès del Vallès someone drowned in a flooded garage. In Pineda de Mar a person was swept away by a stream. According to Euronews, Barcelona had its wettest day in at least twenty years, with one station recording 213 litres per square metre.

The Besòs river breached its danger threshold in its lower reaches, and authorities sent alerts to residents in Barcelona, Montcada i Reixac, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià de Besòs. Civil protection urged people to avoid unnecessary journeys. Regional trains were suspended, flights were cancelled at the airport, and in Granollers firefighters pulled people from cars stuck in a flooded roundabout.

Politicians like to call this an exceptional event. What is exceptional now is mainly how often it happens.

A single storm cannot automatically be blamed on climate change. But the question of whether sewers, riverbeds and civil protection in densely populated regions are built for rain like this gets more urgent every year. For people whose basements are under water, the statistical classification comes second. They want to know when it will stop and who will pay for the damage.