A woman has died after being swept away by floodwater amid DANA Adam, with more severe weather to come.
Her body was recovered from the sea on Sunday morning, around six kilometres from where she disappeared in Cabrera de Mar, near Barcelona.
She had been walking with her husband and their two children near the town’s municipal sports centre when floodwater swept her away at around 7.30pm on Saturday.
The tragedy comes as forecasters warn that the risk of flooding will remain very high through Sunday night and into Monday morning.
Parts of southern coastal Valencia and northern coastal Alicante face red warnings extending until 9.59am on Monday, with some locations potentially receiving 300mm of rain within 24 hours.
Aemet spokesman Ruben del Campo said the weather system was combining with moisture-laden Mediterranean winds to produce particularly dangerous conditions.
‘We are facing the worst hours of the rainstorm,’ he said.
He warned that intense downpours could cause flooding and rapidly rising watercourses, urging people in the worst-affected areas to follow civil protection instructions and stay at home.
Residents should keep away from riverbeds, streams and flood-prone areas.
Military emergency personnel are also being dispatched from Valencia to Ibiza and Mallorca to support the islands’ emergency services.
Flooding and damage in Malaga
In Andalucia, emergency services handled 89 weather-related incidents overnight into Sunday, with 73 recorded in Malaga province.
Part of the ceiling at El Palo’s health centre in Malaga city collapsed following the intense rainfall. Flooding also affected parts of the building, although no injuries were reported.
The regional government has activated its flood emergency plan at operational level one.
Meanwhile, the Andalucia Half Marathon Championship in Motril, Granada, was cancelled because of the thunderstorms.
Fresh warnings for Monday
The Costa del Sol faces further unsettled weather on Monday, October 19.
Aemet’s warning maps show yellow alerts for rain and thunderstorms in the Sol and Guadalhorce district from 3am until 5.59pm.
Rainfall could reach 15mm in an hour, with possible hail accompanying storms.
More severe conditions are forecast overnight in Almeria, where orange warnings cover the provincial capital, Poniente and Levante districts from 9pm on Sunday until 5.59am on Monday.
Those areas could receive 50mm in an hour and 100mm over 12 hours, with Aemet warning that the longer-period total could fall within just a few hours.
Yellow warnings also cover Sevilla’s Campiña, Cordoba’s Campiña, Granada’s Genil basin and Jaen’s Capital y Montes district between 2pm and 9.59pm on Monday.
These areas face rainfall of up to 20mm in an hour, alongside thunderstorms.
In Cadiz, the Campiña and Strait of Gibraltar districts face yellow rain and thunderstorm warnings from midday until 9.59pm, with potential hourly rainfall of 15mm.
Conditions are expected to become gradually less unsettled from Tuesday, although further heavy showers could affect northeastern Spain and the Balearic Islands.
