Torrential rain has deluged parts of Spain over the past week, causing devastating floods in Valencia which have left more than 200 people dead.
The relentless storms today battered Barcelona and its surrounding areas, with the city’s airport submerged after just a few hours of rain this morning.
The intensity of the downpours over recent days has been laid bare in a new map, which is based on data from Spain’s national weather service Aemet.
The forecaster predicted that as much as 180mm – or 180 litres of rain per square metre – could fall around Barcelona’s El Prat airport in 24 hours.
The seemingly relentless showers are caused by Dana – a high-altitude isolated depression which builds up huge, water-laden clouds that can stay over the same area for many hours.
A vehicle drives through rain following floods in Castelldefels near Barcelona
People remove mud from a road following heavy rains in Paiporta, near Valencia
Debris can be seen throughout the town following the flooding
The event sometimes provokes large hail storms and tornadoes, as seen this week.
Eastern and southern Spain are particularly susceptible to the phenomenon due to the area’s position between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Aemet issued a red alert this morning for the Barcelona coastline, warning of the ‘extreme danger’ as a result of the ‘very intense downpour’.
A deluge of 150mm accumulated at the airport in just four hours this morning, it reported.
It caused the runway and even inside the terminal building to flood, resulting in the cancellation and diversion of dozens of flights.
After days of heavy rainfall on Spain’s east and south coasts, Aemet now predicts that showers will also hit the north and north west in the coming days.
Some will be accompanied by storms and are expected to be of ‘strong or very strong intensity’, the forecaster said, though not on the same scale as last week’s weather.
A view of mud and debris, following heavy rains that caused floods, at La Torre neighborhood in Valencia
A man is seen taking his shoes off and wading through the departures hall at Barcelona Airport
The record-breaking rainfall over the past week came after an almost two-year drought, meaning that when the deluge happened, the ground was so hard it could not absorb the rain.
The unusually high temperature of the Mediterranean has also increased the risk of flooding.
It had its warmest surface temperature on record in August, at 28.47 degrees Celsius (83.25 degrees Fahrenheit), said Carola Koenig of the Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience at Brunel University of London.
Satellite image shows severe flooding in Valencia on October 30 after heavy rains
Experts say that drought and flood cycles are increasing with climate change.
As well as Valencia, the worst-hit area, the floods have now affected parts of Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Andalusia, and the Balearic Islands.
Authorities in Valencia said on Sunday that hopes of finding more survivors are fading days after the most intense rainfall on October 29 triggered catastrophic floods.
Torrents of water wrecked homes and vehicles, leaving locals stranded without power and vital supplies.
