Heavy rainfall in southern Catalonia leads to flooding and puts Santa Tecla festivities on hold

Campsite evacuated and disruptions to RT2, R13, R14, R15, R16 and R17 train lines

Flooding in Tarragona's Serrallo neighborhood on September 23, 2022
Flooding in Tarragona's Serrallo neighborhood on September 23, 2022 / Ariadna Escoda
ACN

ACN | @agenciaacn | Barcelona

September 23, 2022 07:47 PM

September 23, 2022 09:30 PM

Heavy rainfall in southern Catalonia Friday evening has led to flooding, forcing the city of Tarragona to put its 700-year-old local Santa Tecla festivities on hold for now in order to "prioritize residents' safety."

Tarragona, and especially its Serrallo neighborhood as well as the Plaça Imperial Tarraco square and the lower floors of the Santa Tecla hospital, has been particularly hard-hit by the storm, but other parts of southern Catalonia have also been affected, with rainwater even sweeping away cars in some areas. 

Flooding in Tarragona on September 23, 2022 / Ariadna Escoda

Catalan Mossos d'Esquadra police have had to partially evacuate the Les Palmeres campsite in the southern Catalan city due to the flooding.

There are also disruptions to Rodalies' RT2, R13, R14, R15, R16 and R17 train lines, with no service at all between Tarragona and Vila-seca, while a long-distance train was forced to stop in Cambrils, a coastal town south of Tarragona, because of the weather. 

Near Tarragona, a care home in Canonja and a school in El Catllar have flooded according to firefighters working on the scene. 

The N-340 and AP-7 highways have been closed off to traffic in Vila-seca, while other points of the AP-7 have also flooded. The C-32 in Vendrell, N-340 in Coma-ruga and A-2 in Sant Joan Despí are also affected.

Firefighters, meanwhile, had received 94 calls by 6:30 pm from people in the area in need of assistance due to the adverse weather, while the 112 emergency hotline had gotten 478 calls by 7 pm.

More frequent and more intense rain

Authorities warned only a day earlier that Catalonia would be subject to more frequent and more extreme episodes of rain in the coming years due to climate change

Around a third of Catalan municipalities are at high or very high risk of flooding, a phenomenon civil protection and Meteocat weather service experts predict will have caused some €2.5bn in damage from 2004 to 2033. 

The recent death of a toddler who was hit by 10-cm wide hailstones in northern Catalonia is a reminder that these future storms will likely exact a human toll too. 

Safety recommendations

Safety recommendations before and during storms, which are even more common in the fall, include making sure water drainage systems are not clogged and not getting close to riverbeds and streams.

People should get out of cars immediately if they are somewhere that begins to flood, leave vehicles parked in garages where they are, stay home if the streets are inundated, switch off the electricity, as well as avoid standing under trees if they are outside and it begins to hail.