BARCELONA, Oct 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two people died and four are missing after freak flash floods hit Spain, causing chaos and destruction in the north-east region.
It comes after a tornado ripped through the tourist island of Ibiza, damaging buildings, uprooting hundreds of trees and leaving residents stranded.
Following the storm – which caused streets to be flooded and cars to be swept away across the country – the body of a 75-year-old man was found.
He was discovered on a beach in the town of Caldes d’Estrac, 25 miles north of Barcelona, after being reported missing when he went to move his car which had been swept up by a swollen river.
Emergency teams had searched throughout the night for him before recovering his body, according to police in Catalonia.
It also emerged that a 52-year-old man died in hospital in southwest of Barcelona after being run over by a train in an incident linked to the storms.
Paramedics were unable to save his life. The exact circumstances of his death have yet to be made clear.
A mother aged around 70 and her 40-year-old son are missing and feared dead after their home was swept away by a river which burst its banks in the village of Vilaverd, 19 miles from the port of Tarragona.
A helicopter and firefighters are urgently searching for the family.
Two other people are being treated as missing in L’Espluga de Francoli, northwest of Vilaverd.
They were in a car when it was hit by the flood. The overturned vehicle has been found in a river.
Authorities said heavy overnight rainfall in the northeastern region of Catalonia caused power cuts that affected nearly 25,000 people while floods and landslides forced the closure of over 40 roads.
Spain’s airport authority Aena said 37 flights were diverted, most had been due to land or take off from Palma on the holiday island of Mallorca.
Last month record rainfall in southeastern Spain claimed seven lives.
Thirteen people died in Mallorca last year as intense rain caused rivers to overflow with raging waters that tore through streets and swept away cars.
— NNN-AGENCIES
