People trapped on roofs of vehicles after huge downpour and hail hits Zaragoza in north of Spain

A huge downpour of rain and hail hit the city of Zaragoza in the northeast of Spain on Thursday afternoon. It caught everyone by surprise and forced the interruption of the tram service for more than an hour and caused various roads throughout the city to be closed.

In addition, numerous cars were swept away by the rains and several streets in the Aragonese capital were flooded. Images of drivers who had to get onto the roofs of their vehicles to avoid being swept away by the flood waters quickly began to circulate on social media networks. Urban buses were also affected by the large quantity of water accumulated on the main roads.

Traffic lights were also damaged in some areas, forcing the intervention of municipal officers to regulate the flow of traffic. The Local Police reported that there had been no traffic accidents with injuries caused by the storm, although there were a couple of minor collisions.

Five regions will have weather warnings this Friday, 7 July, due to the risk of heat, rain, storms or coastal phenomena, according to the state weather agency Aemet. Specifically, there will be yellow warning for storms with hail and strong gusts of wind, as well as for rains that may leave more than 15mm in Álava, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, Navarra, Huesca and Zaragoza. In addition, the risk of coastal phenomena, caused by south-westerly winds of between 50 and 61 km/h, will be activated for the coasts of La Coruña.

In addition, in the Balearic Islands, Mallorca will have a risk of heat, with temperatures that could exceed 36C, while Menorca will have a warning for “rissagas”, with a sea level fluctuation of 0.9 metres until 2pm.