Rain alert remains on the coasts of Barcelona and Girona | News from Catalonia

Catalonia remains on alert due to the precipitation accumulated this Saturday and forecasts that the rain will continue tomorrow on the coasts of Barcelona and Girona. Civil Protection has activated the Inuncat plan and requested special attention around the Maresme streams, so that citizens avoid unnecessary travel and do not cross rivers, ravines or flood zones.

Precisely, one of the incidents that occurred this Saturday due to the rains took place in a stream, specifically in Vilassar de Mar, which was full of water and dragged a van with a man inside for a long time. Local police and firefighters began searching and eventually located the van, which was empty, and found the driver nearby, who told officers that after being dragged by the river, he was able to escape the vehicle unharmed under his own power.

During the day the rain was concentrated on the coast of Barcelona, ​​but during the afternoon it was particularly visible in Maresme and Vallès Oriental. The most important records until the end of the afternoon were recorded in Sant Fost de Campsentelles with 116 liters per square meter, in Badalona with 88 liters, in Mollet del Vallès with 84 or in Granollers and Mataró with more than 60.

Another notable event took place in Granollers, where 26 residents had to be evicted from a building in Granollers due to rainwater leaks which affected the property. The building, located at number 12 Cristòfol Colom Street, is made up of five floors in height, on the last of which some work is underway. Emergency services were alerted at 1:25 p.m. that, due to the intense rain that fell, water had accumulated in one of the floors of the top floor, which caused the roof of one of the houses on the fourth floor to fall and hit the ground, although there were no injuries.

Firefighters checked the condition of the building and evacuated the neighbors. They subsequently consolidated the affected area of ​​the upper floor and, once the property was secure, it was agreed that the neighbors would return home, with the exception of the residents of one of the top floor apartments.

The emergency number 112 received 202 calls regarding the rainy episode, of which 190 came from the province of Barcelona (96.94%). By region, those that received the most calls were Barcelona with 88, Maresme with 49, Vallès Oriental with 32 and Vallès Occidental with 17. For their part, the firefighters of the Generalitat received 80 notices for storm-related services, the majority in the Northern metropolitan region, with 71 notices, mainly concentrated between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.

This Saturday, early in the afternoon, Civil Protection sent an Es-Alert notice to the cell phones of 13 municipalities in the regions surrounding Barcelona, ​​including the area near the Besòs River. In addition to Barcelona, ​​the notification reached Badalona, ​​​​Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Canovelles, Granollers, Parets del Vallès, Montmeló, Montornès del Vallès, Martorelles, la Llagosta, Sant Fost de Campsentelles, Montcada i Reixac, Tiana and Montgat. The deputy director of Civil Protection, Imma Solé, explained that the decision to send the alert was taken when it was noted that the precipitation in this area “presented a certain staticity which required notification to the population”.