File: A picture taken on October 31, 2024 shows the Spanish flag flying at half-mast at the start of three days of national mourning after Spain's deadliest floods in decades, at Cibeles Square in Madrid. (Photo by Oscar Del Pozo / AFP)
Madrid: Fresh floods struck Spain on Sunday as part of the northeastern Catalonia region faced a red alert for torrential rain, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza.
National weather agency AEMET decreed a red alert for heavy rain in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180 millimetres of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro river delta.
"Flooding is being recorded in some places," it added on X. Rail and road travel disruption in Catalonia started to be reported as water accumulated on tracks and motorways.
Catalonia's civil protection service sent a telephone alert urging residents in the Montsia region to avoid travelling and approaching waterways.
The regional government's leader Salvador Illa joined the call on social media, pleading with citizens "for maximum precaution".
Catalan emergency services published data on the calls they had received showing a sharp spike from 5:00 pm (1500 GMT), with 142 cases generated.
The latest scare came after the eastern Valencia region, which suffered Spain's deadliest floods in decades last year, emerged relatively unscathed from another red alert declared on Friday.
But some municipalities devastated by last year's disaster cancelled school and outdoor activities planned for Monday due to a fresh rain warning.
Flooding struck the popular holiday island of Ibiza on Saturday for the second time in two weeks as the storm moved east and north into the Mediterranean after drenching southeastern Spain.
Ibiza airport was "gradually recovering" after briefly halting operations on Saturday, with four flights cancelled, eight diverted and others delayed in the morning, operator Aena said.
The Spanish army's emergencies unit was working in Ibiza on Sunday to clear roads and pump water from flooded buildings as the storm faded there.
Because a hotter atmosphere holds more water that evaporates from a rapidly warming Mediterranean Sea, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall in the region.
