Wild weather hits Spain: Storms, floods, accidents and delays to travel

After a tumultuous July filled with heatwaves, Spain is now seeing the complete opposite in many regions. 

Known for its hot sun and clear skies, Spain has dramatically turned from 40-degree heat to storms and floods in less than 24 hours after a cold front swept across the Peninsular on Wednesday.

A DANA sweeps across Spain bringing heavy downpours, storms and floods

Forecast by AEMET, the state meteorological agency, the cold front came from the Atlantic and quickly evolved into a DANA resulting in cold winds, torrential rain and thunderstorms. 

The worst of hit areas such as the Balearic islands and the Mediterranean coast as the AEMET issued its highest level warning, a red alert, due to the 100 kilometre per hour winds coming into Mallorca. 

Other regions saw similar alerts due to the chaotic weather, including Catalonia, Valencia and the region of Murcia. 

Accidents caused by heavy downpours in the Mainland and Balearic Islands

Holidaymakers in Mallorca were seen sunbathing in the last moments as the skies opened and rainfall came crashing down, forcing the tourists to scramble and collect their belongings before running for cover. 

Ibiza, one of the first to be hit by the severe weather, saw the crash of a luxury sailboat and nine Italian tourists injured.

In mainland Spain, Valencia was battered by continuous wind and rain, causing floods and even the collapse of a supermarket roof leading to the evacuation of around 300 people.

Further south, in the Costa Blanca, more than 40 litres of rain per square metre fell throughout the day, with the downpour impacting flights even though the recorded rain near Alicante-Elche wasn’t as heavy; hundreds of passengers were faced with delays and disruptions to their travels.

Public transport and flight delays due to extreme weather in Spain

On the morning of Wednesday, August 14, two planes had to be diverted to Almeria, and one en route to Ibiza diverted to Alicante, due to the dangerous skies,  while flights to Liverpool and Manchester were outright cancelled for safety.

Meanwhile, on the Murcia-Alicante line a train collided with a tree that had fallen on the tracks during the extreme weather, causing massive delays for commuters.

In the region of Murcia, a total of 96 calls – 22 in the capitol – related to the rain and storms were made to the Emergency Coordination Centre (112) between 12pm and 7:30pm.

Though the worst of it seems to have passed, remain watchful of alerts and forecasts sent out by AEMET.