Former-hurricane Gabrielle brings heavy rain, flooding, road closures and train delays to Spain

The extratropical storm Gabrielle affecting Spain's eastern Mediterranean coast, with red level (extreme risk) alerts activated for torrential rain, has already left its mark. During Sunday night, torrential downpours caused the river Huerva in Zaragoza and the ravine of La Saleta in Aldaia, in the province of Valencia, to burst their banks. Additionally there were power cuts in the province of Tarragona. In the Valencia region, still fearful following the deadly effects of the 'Dana' on 29 October last year, the regional government teams headed by Carlos Mazón and Salvador Illa yesterday ordered the suspension of classes in schools in Valencia and Catalonia for this Monday, 29 September.

In addition, among the incidents reported in the early hours of this Monday morning was the mobilisation of the Castellón provincial fire brigade to rescue a person from the interior of their vehicle which had become trapped by water in Sant Jordi. The same situation happened in Zaragoza, where the Diputación's fire crews had to help several people who were trapped in their vehicles. The heavy downpours forced the Barranco de la Muerte (death ravine) to be closed in Zaragoza, where significant damage was reported in Cuarte, Cadrete and María de Huerva. The 112 Aragón emergency service control room dealt with almost 1,700 calls and 126 incidents overnight.

As far as road closures are concerned, eight roads were closed to traffic this Monday. Spain's Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) has reported that in the province of Valencia the CV-472, from kilometre 7.9 at Los Corrales, to kilometre 8.29 in Las Cuevas; the CV-395 in both directions, from kilometre 17 in Chera to 27, in the town of Sot de Chera; as well as the CV-429, from kilometre 16 in Yatova to 28 in Hortunas. In Catalonia, the C-12 between Amposta and Tortosa, the TV-3314 between Godall and Ulldecona and the TV-3311 between Santa Bàrbara and La Sénia (Tarragona) were closed in the early hours of Monday morning. In Aragon, the A-2306 road is closed to traffic due to flooding, at Azuara (Zaragoza) from kilometre 35.72 to 33, in both directions. The TE-V-1703, at Vinaceite (Teruel), is also closed from kilometre 3.6 to 3.8.

In addition, the heavy rains that have fallen overnight and those expected to arrive throughout the day are causing delays on the rail network in the Valencia region and Catalonia. Renfe has reported that the Valencia Cercanías and Rodalies local commuter trains are affected, while an AVE high-speed train and a long-distance train suffered delays in the early hours of the morning. Specifically, Cercanías de Valencia and Rodalies de Cataluña have suffered delays due to the accumulation of water on the tracks, although for the moment it has not been necessary to cut traffic. The rains have also caused delays on two AVE and long-distance trains from Castellón to Madrid and from Valencia to Barcelona, according to state train operator Renfe.