Heavy rains in Barcelona disrupt rail service as troops search for more flood victims in Valencia

1 of 22 |

The recurrent storms in eastern Spain that led to massive flooding last week and killed over 200 people, mostly near Valencia, are dumping rain on Barcelona. Video showed Barcelona’s El Prat airport’s terminal one flooded and double parked cars in the parking lot.

2 of 22 |

The town of Aldaia near Valencia bore the brunt of last week’s massive flooding which killed at least 217 people in eastern Spain. (AP video shot by Jose Garcia/Production by Hernan Munoz)

3 of 22 |

Exact figures on the numbers of missing people after the Valencia floods are hard to come by. Almost seven days after flash floods came crashing through the suburbs of Valencia, authorities have not released official figures of those still missing. (AP Video: Jose Garcia)

4 of 22 |

Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

5 of 22 |

People walk through a street with piled furniture and rubbish on the sides, in an area affected by floods in Benetusser, Spain, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

6 of 22 |

A “Falla” figure structure made of cardboard and other materials is damaged in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

7 of 22 |

People clear mud from a street in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

8 of 22 |

A man looks at the damage and debris in front of a house a affected by floods in Alfafar, Spain, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

9 of 22 |

Civil Guards check cars for bodies in an indoor car park after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

10 of 22 |

A Civil Guard walks in a flooded indoor car park to check cars for bodies after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

11 of 22 |

Civil Guards wade into an indoor car park to check cars for bodies after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

12 of 22 |

Part of a rotating World Globe Map showing Spain is covered in mud after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

13 of 22 |

A man wipes mud off his face in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

14 of 22 |

A firefighter works in the entrance of an underground car park in the MN4 shopping centre as rescue workers look for bodies on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

15 of 22 |

Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

16 of 22 |

Vehicles trapped after the floods are pictured in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

17 of 22 |

Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

18 of 22 |

A body found in the MN4 shopping centre on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain is placed in a funeral van after floods in the Valencia area, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

19 of 22 |

A soldier works in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

20 of 22 |

Civil Guards walk in a flooded indoor car park to check cars for bodies after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

21 of 22 |

A man looks out of a window of his house in an a affected by floods in Alfafar, Spain, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

22 of 22 |

Civil Guards walk in a flooded indoor car park to check cars for bodies after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

By JOSEPH WILSON

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Continuing storms in eastern Spain that led to massive flooding last week and killed at least 217 people, mostly near Valencia, dumped rain on Barcelona on Monday, prompting authorities to suspend commuter rail service.

Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said he was suspending all commuter trains in northeast Catalonia, a region with 8 million people, at the request of civil protection officials.

Mobile phones in Barcelona screeched with an alert for “extreme and continued rainfall” on the southern outskirts of the city. The alert urged people to avoid any normally dry gorges or canals.

Puente said the rains had forced air traffic controllers to change the course of 15 flights operating at Barcelona’s airport, located on the southern flank of the city.

Several highways have been closed due to flooding.

Classes were cancelled in Tarragona, a city in southern Catalonia about halfway between Barcelona and Valencia, after a red alert for rains was issued.

Meanwhile, in Valencia, the search continued for bodies inside houses and thousands of wrecked cars strewn in the streets, on highways, and in canals that channeled last week’s floods into populated areas.

Not PARSE.LY: Floods

Spain’s royals return to flood disaster zone for 1st time since being pelted by mud

Tropical Storm Sara drenches Honduras’ northern coast with flash flooding and mudslides in forecast

Spanish regional leader admits mistakes made in flood response, but refuses to step down

Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that authorities can still not give a reliable estimate of the missing. Spanish national television RTVE, however, has broadcast pleas for help by several desperate people whose loved ones are unaccounted for.

In the Aldaia municipality, some 50 soldiers, police and firefighters, some wearing wetsuits, searched in a huge shopping center’s underground parking lot for possible victims. They used a small boat and spotlights to move around in the huge structure with vehicles submerged in at least a meter of murky water.

Police spokesman Ricardo Gutiérrez told reporters that so far some 50 vehicles had been found and no bodies had been discovered there.

The Bonaire shopping mall’s 1,800 underground parking spaces quickly filled with water and mud on Tuesday and Wednesday when the southern outskirts of Valencia were hit by a tsunami-like flooding. The team is using four pumps to remove the water.

Citizens, volunteers and thousands of soldiers and police officers pressed on with their gargantuan clean-up effort to clear out mud and debris.

Many people feel abandoned by authorities, their anger erupting on Sunday when a crowd tossed mud at Spain’s royal couple, the prime minister and regional leaders as they made their first visit to Paiporta, where over 60 people died and the survivors have lost their homes and still don’t have drinking water.

Spain is used to autumn storms that can lead to flooding, but the latest ones have produced the deadliest flooding in living memory for Spaniards.

Climate scientists and meteorologists say the immediate cause of the flooding was a cut-off lower-pressure storm system that migrated from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream. It was likely fueled by a record-hot Mediterranean Sea. That system simply parked itself over the region and unleashed a deluge.

The Spanish navy’s “Galicia” transport vessel arrived in Valencia’s port on Monday with marines, helicopters and trucks loaded with food and water to help with the relief effort, which included 7,500 soldiers and thousands of police reinforcements.

JOSEPH WILSON

Wilson is an Associated Press reporter focused on European political and sports news.