Two dead in flooding caused by heavy rains in northern Spain

Two people have died as a result of heavy rainfall in northern Spain, where engorged rivers swept away vehicles and flooded homes.

The intense rain caused rivers to overflow in parts of Navarre, Aragón, La Rioja and the Basque Country, forcing evacuations and creating road disruptions from Friday through Monday.

Zaragoza, the regional capital of Aragón, was on Monday bracing for the effects of the rising waters and city officials were meeting with fire crews to go over emergency plans.

The overflowing Ebro river has covered the village of Novillas (Aragón), where the mayor, Abel Vera, said on Monday that the water has flooded around two-thirds of the land but that the village center has been spared. On Sunday, 55 residents were evacuated from their homes.

The flooding was caused by a storm dubbed Barra by meteorologists, who reported as much as 100 millimeters of rain in 12 hours at many weather stations in the regions of Navarre and the Basque Country. The storm first moved over Spain on Tuesday of last week, putting 20 provinces on alert for rain, wind and snow.

Rescue teams on Sunday pulled out the body of a 61-year-old man from the Bidasoa river, in the Navarre region. The victim had been missing since Friday, when he drove out in his van from his home in Elizondo, near Pamplona. And on Friday, a 49-year-old woman died in Sunbilla (Navarre) when a shed collapsed on top of her inside a rural property near the Bidasoa river.

Authorities were also concerned about the rising waters along the Ebro river, one of the country’s main waterways. Around 20 streets were completely flooded in the city of Tudela (Navarre), while in Zaragoza (Aragón) the police evacuated the areas of Doña Sancha, Alfocea, Casetón and Torre Villarroya ahead of possible flooding.

In Pamplona, stations on the Arga river on Friday recorded a streamflow of 508 cubic meters per second, setting a new record. There were road cuts and blocked lanes on several key thoroughfares in northern Spain over the weekend, including the A-1 highway known as the Autovía del Norte. Provincial roads remained cut off in parts of Aragón on Monday.

María Chivite, the regional premier of Navarre, said on Sunday that she will seek natural disaster designation from the Spanish government in order to access state and European reconstruction funds. The leaders of 74 municipalities affected by the flooding have been called to a meeting on Monday to assess the damage, said the regional executive in a statement.

In the region of La Rioja, the government on Sunday deactivated its emergency plan following several days of flooding in municipalities along the Ebro river.

And in Aragón, central government representative Rosa Serrano said on Sunday that they were preparing “for the worst-case scenario” in order to act fast against more emergency situations.