Two people were missing Saturday after torrential rains and floods in Catalonia in northeastern Spain.
Firefighters said they were searching along the banks and mouth of the Foix river for two people who went missing near the town of Cubelles, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Barcelona.
Treballem en la recerca de dues persones a Cubelles. Segons les primeres informacions s’haurien vist arrossegades per la crescuda del Foix. El dispositiu de recerca s’ha dividit en diversos sectors, als marges del riu fins la desembocadura
18🚒 amb #GRAE Sub#bomberscat @mossos
— Bombers (@bomberscat) July 12, 2025
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for “great caution” and urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in 10 northern and eastern regions that were on high alert on Saturday.
“We are closely monitoring the situation in several communities with warnings for heavy rains and storms,” Sanchez wrote on X.
The prime minister said troops from the Military Emergency Unit (UME) had already been deployed to municipalities in Aragon.
Muy pendientes de la situación en varias comunidades con avisos por fuertes lluvias y tormentas.
Efectivos de la @UMEgob están colaborando ya en municipios de la Ribera Alta del Ebro.
Sigan las indicaciones de protección civil y eviten desplazamientos. Mucha precaución. https://t.co/Ptof6oqvAX
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) July 12, 2025
Heavy rains cause travel disruption
The national weather service, Aemet, said 10 centimeters (four inches) had fallen near Barcelona in a matter of hours.
Catalonia and the neighboring region of Aragon were under a red “extreme risk” alert due to rains that could see up to 60 liters per square meter fall in one hour, according to Aemet.
Hundreds of people were stranded for hours on Saturday before services resumedMarc Asensio Clupes/ZUMA/IMAGO
As a precautionary measure, Renfe, Spain’s rail company, briefly suspended services throughout Catalonia on Saturday.
In Barcelona, roads were blocked, while a hospital had to refuse patients after it flooded.
A plane that took off from the city for the United States was forced to turn back after sustaining damage to its nose in a hail storm.
Last year’s storm, which mostly affected Valencia, was one of the worst in Spain’s historyManu Fernandez/AP/dpa/picture alliance
In October 2024, heavy rains and devastating floods in the eastern region of Valencia killed 225 people in the worst meteorological disaster in Spain in decades.
That rain storm, like the one currently affecting the country, was caused by a weather phenomenon known in Spain as a “cold drop” or DANA (Isolated Depression at High Levels), in which a mass of cold air drops over the warmer waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse