A British national has died after his vehicle was swept away during devastating floods in Spain. Heavy rainfall has battered the nation, with authorities declaring a red alert for flooding.
Incident in Olivella
The man was travelling through Olivella, 25 miles west of Barcelona, when local reports indicate his car was "swallowed by the force of the water". The motorist was caught by the strength of the water at the Begues stream close to a bridge before his vehicle plummeted and was carried away, according to La Vanguardia.
The publication states that Mayor Marta Verdejo has verified the deceased was a middle-aged British man.
Emergency Response
Regional firefighters confirmed they responded to notifications of a vehicle entering water in the Garraf village, 25 miles west of Barcelona, at approximately 11pm yesterday. In a statement issued around 12.30am on Thursday, the fire brigade announced the lifeless body of a man had been discovered roughly 500 metres from where the vehicle was located in the water. Eleven teams took part in the recovery mission, supported by drones and specialist rescue divers.
Wider Alerts
The incident follows intense precipitation across Spain's south-eastern regions, with orange and red weather alerts issued across sections of Catalonia and Valencia. Well-known tourist hotspots, including Benidorm, Ibiza, and Magaluf, face further substantial rainfall over the approaching days.
Garraf residents are understood to have received an urgent alert on their mobile devices from Civil Protection regarding torrential downpours and the risk of flash flooding. In certain regions of Spain, over 60 litres of rainfall per square metre was recorded within a single hour, according to the Spanish weather agency AMET, which cautioned residents of "extraordinary danger". Social media footage, meanwhile, shows streets in Alginet, Valencia, transformed into violent floods.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman told the Mirror: "We are aware of the death of a British national during the flooding in Catalonia and stand ready to provide consular assistance to the family".
