The dark sky fell yesterday afternoon in Terrassa. An intense storm coming from the neighboring towns of Vacarisses and Viladecavalls entered the city en masse and, after a heavy hailstorm, caused serious damage: it overflowed the Arenes creek -in the direction of Matadepera-, flooded lowlands, left streets with two pams of water and even denied entry to the parking lot of Plaça Doctor Robert, in the center. After three in the afternoon, the storm brought down a wall and forced the evacuation of the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC), in Rambla d’Ègara. The warning to the emergency services arrived at 15.51. The Generalitat Fire Department intervened, although, fortunately, there were no personal injuries.
In the early afternoon, the mayor of Terrassa, Jordi Ballart, activated the Municipal Emergency Plan in the alert phase in the face of an atmospheric situation that was expected to be complex. The image of the les Arenes stream, full at one point of water with mud, which was descending at full speed after months of drought, had an impact on the collective imagination of the older people of Terrassa, a city that suffered the floods of 1962. 92 liters of water fell per square meter and in some places even more.
The situation got out of hand. A regular shepherd in the area, with a herd of goats and sheep, also encountered the sudden storm. The flood swept several animals downstream. “A team of volunteers, residents of the area, and the Fire Department managed to rescue some animals alive, but the goat was badly affected”, explained local photographer Cristóbal Castro.
According to the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, at the peak of the storm, 46.2 liters of water per square meter accumulated in 30 minutes. The C-16 was closed near Terrassa, in both directions of the road, from kilometer 22 to 24, since half past four in the afternoon. By five o’clock he was back to normal. The B-40 road was also closed at the height of the Roca del Vallès, in a stretch of four kilometers since half past five in the afternoon, due to the floods caused by the storm. The heavy downpour moved towards the Vallès Oriental and the Maresme as the hours progressed.
In the early afternoon, the emergency telephone number 112 received more than 100 calls related to the storms in a few minutes, detailed Civil Protection through social networks. The situation worsened to the point that by six in the afternoon there were almost 400 calls, of which 234 were made from Vallès Occidental, 174 from Terrassa. Osona accumulated 62 for emergencies and in Castellbell and Vilar four people trapped in a car in the Marganell stream were rescued. Meteocat issued a warning of a 6 out of 6 risk meteorological situation due to the rain and indicated that it could affect the regions of Vallès Oriental, Moianès and Baix Llobregat, with an intensity of more than 40 liters per square meter.
In the late afternoon, the storms were replicated in the south of Catalonia.
