The heavy downpour that hit the province of Zaragoza and the capital this afternoon, where in just under an hour it drained up to 54.2 liters per square meter in some parts of the city, inundating one of the circular and flood belts on other streets are many People trapped in their vehicles, necessitating the deployment of firefighters and dive teams. Despite the heavy rain, there were no accidents with injuries, but conditions have spread across the city, causing tram services to be disrupted and numerous bus routes to be diverted, Zaragoza City Council has reported. According to Aemet, the provinces of Zaragoza and Huesca are in orange alert.
The worst situation happened in the Third Belt, at the top of the Barranco de la Muerte, where scores of people were trapped in their vehicles and there were “really very complicated moments” that forced the rescue of more than one dozen people were sitting in the vehicles or clinging to the trees on the road. To achieve this, these sources explained, different techniques had to be used, from ropes to vertical rescue tools to car ladders and an all-terrain truck like in wildfires to reach places where people were trapped. People also had to be rescued from cars in the Los Enlaces area.
Moment of the storm that hit Zaragoza this Thursday afternoon. JAVIER BELVER (EFE)
The Ecociudad Society’s nine service teams, responsible for sanitation and utility infrastructure, were working at full capacity, as were local police, to regulate crossings at points where traffic lights had lost power, such as Avenida Ciudad de Soria or Caminos del Norte, or flooded by the clogging of the sewage system as a result of the leaves swept away by the hail and the water and the gusts of wind that accompanied the storm, up to 92 kilometers per hour.
Very attentive to the terrible floods in Zaragoza. In the almost three decades I lived there, I had never seen anything like it. The images that come to mind make my hair stand on end. I’m in shock.
They tell me that this woman was fortunately rescued by the fire department. pic.twitter.com/VdvCGzLVYv
— Pablo Echenique (@PabloEchenique) July 6, 2023
Dozens of roads in Zaragoza were affected and numerous bus routes had to be diverted. In addition, the storm cell has also caused damage to houses, premises and basements in Cuarte de Huerva and in Burgo de Ebro, a municipality where eight people, including four minors, have been evacuated from two houses as a precautionary measure due to the storm water entering the building in which they live. The A23 motorway also had to be interrupted at kilometer 274 in the direction of Teruel, reported the Guardia Civil, which drove members of the civil protection and traffic group into the affected areas.
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The accumulation of water on the tracks has caused the train service between Zaragoza and Barcelona to be interrupted for a few minutes. They were then diverted from the Delicias train station in the Aragonese capital via the ring road, causing delays on their way to the Catalan capital. One of the trains was stopped in Cartuja Baja on time.
The mayor of the city the popular Natalia Chueca, In a tweet, he referred to the difficulties the meteorological episode has caused in transportation in many parts of the city and called for “patience and great prudence” while complying with the actions of the city council, fire department and local police would work. .
⛈️The strong storm that hit Zaragoza caused this flow of water and mud in the middle of the Z-30, near Parque Venecia.
The road is closed at the moment. pic.twitter.com/ckZRmSzjPG
– Aragon News (@AragonNoticias_) July 6, 2023
Five autonomous communities will be warned this Friday because of the risk of heat, rain, storms, coastal phenomena or rip gas, the state weather agency (AEMET) reports. In particular, there will be a yellow warning for storms with hail and strong gusts of wind, as well as for rainfall that can leave more than 15 liters per square meter in Álava, Biscay, Guipúzcoa, Navarre, Huesca and Zaragoza. In addition, for the coasts of La Coruña, the risk of coastal phenomena caused by south-west winds with a speed between 50 and 61 kilometers per hour off the coast is activated. In addition, in the Balearic Islands, Mallorca is at risk due to the heat with temperatures exceeding 36 degrees Celsius.