The Spanish city of Barcelona was on high alert on Monday just days after flash floods killed at least 217 people in the coastal region of Valencia.
Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente said he was suspending all commuter trains in northeast Catalonia, home to some 8 million inhabitants. Puente added that some flights to Barcelona Airport were being diverted and that a landslide had caused traffic to become severely backed up on a local highway.
Mobile phones for those living on the southern outskirts of the city were sent blaring messages that warned of “extreme and continued rainfall” and residents were advised to avoid normally dry canals and gorges.
Some 150 educational institutions in the area canceled classes for the day.
A red alert for rainfall was also issued in the city of Tarragona, south of Barcelona.
In a post on social media site X, Spain’s national weather service AEMET published a map of the areas on alert:
Angry residents chant ‘murderer’ at Spanish king
Rescue workers were still rushing to comb through mud and debris in Valencia, searching for bodies inside houses and buildings hit by the flooding late last week. The Spanish military said about 10,000 troops and police had been dispatched to help the rescue and clean-up operations.
On Sunday, angry residents of Valencia threw mud and chanted “murderer” at Spain’s King Felipe IV, asking why nothing had been done to protect their city from the destruction.
es/wmd (AP, dpa)
