Young boy dies and adult still missing after torrential rain and flooding hits north of Spain

The summer of 2025 in Spain has ended with the death of a child of about eleven years of age as a result of the intense thunderstorms and hail that have hit a large part of the northeast of the Spanish mainland on Sunday, especially the Catalonia region.

Late last night, the Catalan emergency services, while searching for two missing people who had been swept away by the water in San Quintín de Mediona, found the body of a person in the river Bitlles, in Sant Pere. Just after midnight, the Catalan Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, confirmed that the body was that of a minor, and that the emergency services were still trying to find and adult, believed to be the father of the deceased.

The heavy rains also caused road closures, delays and flight cancellations at El Prat airport, incidents on the railways and the rescue of dozens of people who were trapped on the popular funicular mountain train to Montserrat in Barcelona, where more than 100mm per square metre fell in just a few hours.

The state meteorological agency (Aemet) activated orange warnings (major risk) in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia, as heavy rainfall, strong gusts of wind and plummeting temperatures were expected throughout Sunday afternoon, with up to 10C less than on Saturday.

In the morning, areas of Teruel and Huesca recorded a hail storm with ice stones the size of marbles, and even larger. Aemet also activated yellow warnings for Sunday in areas of Aragon, Asturias, Andalucía, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia.

The situation in Catalonia was the most worrying. The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, called for "caution" in the face of the episode of heavy rains that were happening and stressed that it was "very important" to follow the indications and recommendations of Protecció Civil de la Generalitat.

Montse Font, head of the emergency management and Civil Protection service of the Catalan government, asked the population to avoid flood areas such as riverbeds and ravines "because of possible flash floods", as well as travel on roads affected by the downpours. He also called for "prudence" driving on roads such as the AP-7 motorway, where visibility was poor, and on the C-58 road between Tarrasa and Manresa, which was cut off for 4.5 kilometres due to flooding.

Adverse weather conditions and Saturday's cyberattack at other European airports also disrupted operations at Barcelona's El Prat airport, which experienced several flight delays and cancellations. There were also railway incidents in Girona and the fall of two trees on the power supply catenary halted a train with 60 passengers in Castel del Vilar (Barcelona),

The Catalan meteorological service (Meteocat) issued a severe weather warning for seven areas of Barcelona and Tarragona, with a maximum risk level in Anoia (Barcelona) and Conca de Barberà (Tarragona). The weather situation forced the closure of two provincial roads and driving was very difficult on other roads with a lot of pooled water.

In just a few hours, the downpours dumped up to 126mm in the Montserrat abbey area. There, a landslide left the well-known Sant Joan funicular train - which offers an impressive panoramic view of the mountain of Montserrat - inoperative. Some 30 people were travelling on the funicular at the time and had to be rescued by the fire brigade. Hikers who were in the vicinity of Montserrat also had to be evacuated after 40mm of rain fell in just half an hour.

Also in Aragon, the rain caused numerous incidents and complicated traffic in different parts of the region, with pools of water, accumulation of mud, landslides, lane closures and road closures.

In the Valencian region, Aemet activated a double amber and yellow warning, from four o'clock on Sunday afternoon, due to the threat of heavy rain and thunderstorms, especially in the north of Castellón.

The Hydrographic Confederation of the Ebro (CHE) intensified surveillance and reminded the possibility of "major flash floods" of a local nature in ravines and minor watercourses in Navarre, Aragon (Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel), Catalonia (Lleida and Tarragona) and in the northern interior of Castellón throughout Sunday.

In the Balearic Islands, a cold front is expected to arrive on the island overnight on Sunday, activating the amber alert for heavy rain and thunderstorms. During the early hours of Monday morning, heavy rain is expected, especially in the Serra de Tramuntana and in the north and northeast of the island. In these areas, accumulations of more than 40mm could be recorded in just one hour. In addition, very strong gusts of wind are expected, which could exceed 90 kilometres per hour.

Rain and plummeting temperatures are what awaits many of us in Spain this Monday, when, at 8.19pm to be precise, astronomical autumn will officially begin (meteorological autumn began on 1 September). The drop in the thermometer will be so abrupt that the first snow is expected in areas of the Pyrenees, below 1,500 metres above sea level.