Zaragoza was hit by severe storms on Thursday afternoon. A cloudburst prompted rescue operations by firefighters and dive teams to help stranded pedestrians. Significant damage has been reported.
Within an hour, up to 54.2 litres per square metre fell in some places of the city. As a result, several roads, including one of the ring roads, were flooded. Many people became trapped in their vehicles, requiring the efforts of firefighters and dive teams. Furthermore, the storm was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 92 km/h.
🚨Graves inundaciones en #Zaragora
Estamos trabajando por la #seguridad de todos
➖Evita desplazamientos innecesarios
➖No atravieses lugares inundados con tu vehículo
➖Sigue las instrucciones de los servicios de emergencia #SomosTuPolicía pic.twitter.com/GcXlg3nJ5K
— Policía Nacional (@policia) July 6, 2023
Fortunately, despite the intense and almost apocalyptic images, no accidents with injuries have been reported. Nevertheless, the entire city has had to deal with the effects of the storm. The tram service was interrupted and many bus lines had to be diverted, the municipality confirmed.
The most serious situation occurred at Parque Venecia and the ring road Z-30. Many people got stuck in their vehicles there. More than ten people had to be rescued from their cars, from the roof of their cars or trees along the street they were clinging to. See the video in this tweet of a woman who saved herself on the roof of a car. Another video shows her being rescued by firefighters.
It required various rescue techniques, including the use of ropes and vertical rescues using a cherry picker and an all-terrain vehicle of the fire department. Some people also had to be rescued from cars in the Los Enlaces area.
Imágenes dramáticas tras la fuerte #tormenta, #lluvias, #granizo e #inundaciones hoy en #Zaragoza, #España 🇪🇦
Precaución ⚠️
Vía @meteosojuela pic.twitter.com/BofGGe4wl2— Geól. Sergio Almazán (@chematierra) July 6, 2023
In addition to the Ecociudad service, responsible for sewerage and water supply infrastructure, local police officers were also present to direct traffic at intersections where the traffic lights were down.
The storm has also affected homes, shops and cellars in Cuarte de Huerva and El Burgo de Ebro. As a precaution, eight people, including four minors, had to be evacuated from two homes due to flooding.
The A23 motorway had to be closed at kilometre point 274 towards Teruel. In addition, the railway line between Delicias de Zaragoza station and Barcelona-Sants was interrupted for more than an hour. High-speed trains were also affected. The timetable has now resumed. The Guardia Civil has deployed security forces and traffic controllers to assist in the affected areas.
Hail the size of ping pong balls in Bajo Aragón in Teruel
Not only Zaragoza was hit by severe weather. The region of Bajo Aragón was also hit by a violent storm accompanied by hail the size of ping pong balls and strong gusts of wind up to 95 kilometres per hour. This has led to broken car windows, broken roof tiles, fallen trees, dead birds and flooding.
Vineyards destroyed by hail
In the town of Paniza, vineyards have been hit hard by the heavy hailstorm, and farmers there assure that 100% of the harvest was lost because the large hailstones damaged the fruit.
Sources: El Español, RTVE, CadenaSER
