Catalonia woke up this Thursday with the aftermath left by the heavy rains of the previous night, which had as its worst consequence the death of a driver, who was trapped in his vehicle after being swept away by the water in the Olivella stream (Barcelona). The rest of the incidents are concentrated in mobility, with traffic jams on the access roads to Barcelona and delays in public transport, such as Rodalies and the metro.
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“Disturbances like those on Wednesday do not have stable behavior. We will not stop the country because of the rain. If yesterday we had sent an Es-Alert at 7:00 p.m., no one would have accepted that the Barça match was suspended. That’s clear.” The Minister of the Interior of the Generalitat, Núria Parlon, strongly defended this Thursday the actions of the civil protection technicians in response to complaints that the mobile alarms arrived once the worst of the storm had passed, the Rondas and the Metro had already been — in some areas — completely flooded.
Parlon appeared early this Thursday defending the actions of the emergency and forecasting services. “The meteorological service of Catalonia expected very intense effects with water accumulations exceeding 60 milliliters in less than three hours. This information was available to all municipalities hours before,” she warned. In fact, the Barcelona City Council itself had already activated the municipal emergency plan due to insufficient drainage at noon. The minister justified herself by assuring that it is not until the rain episode that it is confirmed that “the thresholds of sudden rain accumulation are being exceeded.” It was then, at 9:12 p.m., when the Es-Alert was issued to the mobiles of the Barcelonès region updating the rain forecast. At that time, thousands of citizens were already on streets where the water exceeded ankle height. “At 9:34 p.m., another was sent to the citizens of Penedès, Garraf, and Baix Llobregat warning that the rains could cause serious incidents in those areas,” she highlighted.
Parlon was very upset with the criticism of the activation of these alarms just when it had been raining for several minutes and the worst of the storm had already arrived. “We do not send an Es-Alert to tell people that it is raining heavily. It is sent at moments when the forecast for sudden flood risk requires protection. These are disturbances that do not have stable behavior. We will not stop the country when it rains,” she maintained. “We cannot stop life in general with Es-Alert because, otherwise, in the end no one would pay attention,” she concluded.
The deputy director of Civil Protection programs, Sergio Delgado, defended that last Wednesday Es-Alerts were sent and classes were suspended in part of Catalonia due to a storm that later was not as aggressive as expected. “There are alarms that are preventive when there is the highest probability of risk,” Delgado defended. The deputy director added that there was no such risk on Wednesday and, therefore, the Barça-Racing de Santander match was not suspended.
On the contrary, LaLiga suspended the Levante-Athletic match six minutes before on Wednesday, which was to be held at 9:30 p.m. at the Ciutat de València stadium. The players came out to warm up but the downpour made the field unplayable. The public did not know how to protect themselves from the torrential rain, accompanied by hurricane winds, thunder, and lightning. Many social media users have criticized the danger in which thousands of fans found themselves returning home through flooded streets.
The Generalitat sent the Es-Alert message at 10:08 p.m. due to a hydrological alert. The Emergency Minister, Juan Carlos Valderrama, stated this Thursday that the orange alert and the possibility of torrential rains had been warned for days. And he pointed out that the competent body to suspend the match is LaLiga and the municipalities, reports Cristina Navarro.
More than a thousand incidents
Civil Protection has declared the rain episode “over,” although it has assured that it may rain lightly in some areas of Catalonia. The heavy rain has affected very populated areas and, therefore, there have been many incidents (more than a thousand, of which “practically” 70% have come from Barcelonès Nord).
The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, lamented this Thursday the death of the Olivella driver. “My deepest condolences and all support to his family. I am in contact with Minister Núria Parlon to follow the evolution and consequences of the intense rains in various areas of Catalonia,” he said in a post on X.
In Olivella (Garraf), we have located the lifeless body of a man about 500 meters from the point where the vehicle was dragged by the stream, in an accessible area.
We have recovered the body and @mossos has confirmed that the man was the driver of the vehicle. https://t.co/SlEBaKBzMS
— Bombers (@bomberscat) September 16, 2026
The Barcelona Metro also suffers the consequences of the rain, especially lines L4 and L11. Specifically, L4 operates between La Pau and Verdaguer (with an alternative bus service between Verdaguer and Trinitat Nova), while L11 serves between Trinitat Nova and Ciutat Meridiana, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) reported in a message published on the social network X. There are also incidents at the access via Marqués de Sant Mori de La Salut on L10N and on the central platform of Fabra i Puig on L1, which is out of service. Rodalies also reports on social networks disruptions on line R4, where trains run delayed “due to speed restrictions established by adverse weather conditions from the previous night.” Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat experiences a similar situation and delays due to speed reduction are affecting the Llobregat-Anoia line. Likewise, the Vallvidriera Funicular service has been interrupted and is being carried out by road.
