Barcelona, Oct 18. (dpa/GNA) – A woman was found dead on Sunday, after being swept away by floodwaters from a heavy storm in Catalonia in north-eastern Spain, the local fire brigade said.
The woman was caught by floodwaters with her child in Cabrera de Mar, about 35 kilometres north-east of Barcelona. Her husband reportedly managed to grab the child, but his wife was swept away.
An overnight search led to the discovery of her body on Sunday morning in the sea off the town of Premià de Mar, further south, the fire service said.
Andalusia was also badly hit, with flooding in the city of Algeciras near Gibraltar, in El Ejido near Málaga and elsewhere.
Television footage showed torrents of water rushing through the streets, and submerged cars, homes and shops.
On Sunday, alerts were also issued for the regions around Valencia and Alicante, both on the Mediterranean coast.
In some places, more than 200 millimetres of rain fell over the course of the morning, state broadcaster RTVE reported.
Two years ago, in October 2024, the Valencia region was hit by one of the worst floods in the country’s history, killing at least 229 people.
With the Mediterranean’s water temperatures rising due to human-caused climate change, Spain’s national weather agency AEMET warns that higher evaporation makes such storms more likely and more intense.
GNA