No schools and working from home advised on Monday in southern Catalonia due to rain

School will not open on Monday in southern Catalonia since severe weather conditions will continue after a full weekend of heavy rain.

The Catalan government announced on Sunday evening that schoolchildren will remain home in the four counties of the Ebre river delta region –Terra Alta, Baix Ebre, Ribera d'Ebre and Montsià–, with medium-sized cities such as Tortosa and Amposta, as well as Baix Camp, by the coast near Tarragona, with Reus as capital city.

Also, Civil Protection authorities advise the public to also work from home and stay indoors on Monday in the same area.

Flood alert in southern Catalonia was issued on Saturday, originally lasting until Sunday morning, but in the end remaining all day long. And, on Sunday evening, authorities decided to raise the level of alarm to 'emergency' after sending two alerts to phones in the Montsià county, at the beginning, and all southern coast a while later.

AP-7, the main highway in Catalonia, was blocked between Ulldecona and Freginals after getting flooded, and other minor roads were also affected: N-340 between Amposta and Alcanar, C-12 between Amposta and Tortosa, T-311 between Ulldecona and Santa Bàrbara, and TP-3311 between Santa Bàrbara and la Sénia.

The train network in the south of the country was also interrupted, with R16 route affected and 17 trains, as well as 3,000 passengers.

Some villages near Ebre river also flooded on Sunday evening, as 112 emergency phone received at least 1,042 calls related to the severe weather until 9 pm on Sunday.

Until 7.30pm, firefighters had received 126 calls, especially from people stuck in ground floors and vehicles.

Mas de Barberans, a village in Montsià, registered 189 mm until 9 pm on Sunday, and the same weather station had recorded 84.7 mm on Saturday.

Els Ports natural park got 101.8 mm on Sunday until 9 pm, and 85.5 mm more on Saturday, with Aldover (85.1 mm), l'Aldea (67.9 mm) or els Alfacs (63.7 mm) also receiving heavy rain.