Barcelona floods spark travel chaos as flights cancelled and cars abandoned underwater

Ongoing storms in Spain have caused travel chaos in Barcelona, where flights and trains have been cancelled.

Mass flooding in Valencia has so far been confirmed to have killed at least 217 people as the search continues for survivors inside homes and flooded car parks. As the incident continues, those in Barcelona have been warned of “extreme and continued rainfall” on the southern outskirts of the city.

As a result of the storms, air traffic controllers have changed the course of 15 flights from Barcelona’s airport. Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente has suspended all commuter trains in northeast Catalonia. Vueling, the primary airline operating at El Prat, has opened additional check-in counters to assist affected passengers.

It come as at Barcelona El Prat airport, water was seen pouring through the terminal ceiling and flooding the runway, leading to multiple flight cancellations and diversions. The torrential downpour, which began early this morning, has resulted in most upcoming departures being either cancelled or delayed by at least an hour and flights diverted to other airports, while arrivals have also been heavily impacted. Passengers have been advised to check their flight status.

The weather red alert in the region has advised people to avoid any normally dry gorges or canals. Last week, huge torrents of water flooded similar dry rivers near Valencia amid catastrophic rainfall, bringing a tsunami into towns and villages.

In the Aldaia municipality, some 50 soldiers, police and firefighters continue searches in a huge shopping centre’s underground parking lot for possible victims. They used a small boat and spotlights to move around in the huge structure where vehicles are submerged in at least a metre of murky water.

Police spokesman Ricardo Gutierrez told reporters so far around 50 vehicles had been found and no bodies had been discovered there. The Bonaire shopping mall’s 1,800 underground parking spaces quickly filled with water and mud on Tuesday and Wednesday when the southern outskirts of Valencia were hit by flooding. The team is using four pumps to remove the water.

Spain’s national weather agency, AEMET, has described the situation as “extreme danger due to torrential rain” and issued a stark warning: “Do not travel unless strictly necessary.” They added conditions could worsen as the day progresses, with more rainfall expected throughout the region. Meanwhile, Barcelona’s airport operator, Aena, has established a crisis committee to manage the disruption.

Last night, a British expat in Valencia told of hearing his neighbours’s final screams before they died in an “urban river” amid the flooding . Jerome Torres, 49, was trapped in his fourth-floor flat with his partner Pablo when water levels become dangerously high last week .

Jerome said: “The day we came back and saw the devastation, it was completely unrecognisable. It felt like an American Hollywood film. It was apocalyptic… The president of the region was on the radio saying there was no risk of flooding, so we thought we were safe. It was a death trap for many.”

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