Severe weather disrupts air and rail services in Barcelona
The international airport of Barcelona has been disrupted by heavy rain, with more than 60 flights cancelled or diverted. Rail services in the Spanish region of Catalonia have also been suspended.
Airlines have already cancelled around 50 departing flights, airport operator Aena said on X at 12.20. Seventeen flights have been diverted to other airports. Earlier, railway company Renfe said train services in Catalonia would be suspended until at least 14.00 due to the storms.
Barcelona-El Prat airport has set up a crisis committee to monitor the impact of the stormy weather after water entered the terminals and the car park. Some access roads have also been disrupted and rail and metro services to the airport have been suspended.
At least 217 deaths
A cold drop, or isolated high-altitude depression causing sudden and extremely heavy rainfall, has been causing severe flooding in eastern Spain since last week. Valencia and the surrounding areas have been hardest hit.
The extreme weather has already claimed at least 217 lives, 213 of them in the Valencia region. On Sunday evening, the city of Tarragona was also hit by flooding as a result of heavy rainfall.
Hundreds missing
The search for missing people continues in the areas already affected. In the Valencian suburb of Aldaia, water is being pumped out of a shopping centre car park, where several people are feared to have died.
According to some local media, many hundreds more are missing, but no official figure has been issued. More than 10,000 police and 7,500 military personnel were mobilised on Monday for rescue and clean-up operations, along with firefighters and civil protection workers.
People stranded at Barcelona-El Prat airport on 4 November after several flights were cancelled or diverted © PHOTO KIKE RINCON / EUROPA PRESS
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