Ben Pawlowski
AUTHORITIES in Catalunya have activated a flood alert with violent thunderstorms forecast to dump up to 40mm of rain per hour in the region.
Catalunya’s Civil Protection Service have issued an orange weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday, urging residents to avoid non-essential travel, especially near rivers, low-lying areas or flood-prone zones.
Spain’s national meteorological service, AEMET, have also triggered an orange alert ahead of the expected rainfall, with warnings also activated for heavy hail and strong gusts of wind.
Western Catalunya is forecast to bear the brunt of the storm on Wednesday, with the heavy rain also expected to hit northern Valencia, including Castellon de la Plana.
On Thursday, Catalunya’s eastern coast, including capital city Barcelona, is set to be hardest hit.
The warning lasts from 2pm on Wednesday to 8pm on Thursday.
READ MORE: Costa del Sol under yellow heat alert as brutal terral winds drive late summer highs of 36C
Elsewhere, the Costa del Sol and the Guadalhorce Valley are under a yellow heat alert for Wednesday with the mercury expected to soar to a sweltering 36C in Malaga city.
The alert will remain active from 1pm to 9pm with brutal terral winds from the interior set to drive up temperatures across the coastline.
The latest alert comes after AEMET declared Spain’s August heatwave as ‘the most intense on record’, with average temperatures from August 8 to August 17 a full 4.6C hotter than normal.
AEMET reported the heatwave lasted for sixteen consecutive days, making it the longest and hottest mid-August stretch since records began.
It also produced the warmest set of ten consecutive days in Spain since at least 1950.
In Catalunya, Barcelona recorded its highest ever August temperature last week after a high of 38.9C was recorded at the Fabra Observatory.
That figure is only exceeded by the all-time high of 40C, set on July 30 last year.
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
