La Rioja and Pamplona prepare for the forecast of flooding due to river flooding

The storm of snow, wind and rough seas is raging strongly in the north of the peninsula. It has already affected fifty roads and has led La Rioja and Pamplona to prepare for the forecast of flooding due to river flooding. The peak day of the first winter storm keeps five communities under red notice and four others under orange.

Aragón, Asturias, Castilla y León, Catalonia and Navarra have areas under red warning due to strong wind, rough seas and snowfall. Cantabria, Galicia, Euskadi and the Valencian Community have orange warnings for the same phenomena, according to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). The snow has affected 49 roadswith special complications in Asturias, Huesca and Lleida, according to the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), which calls for special caution while driving.

River floods

The warnings from the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (CHE) have led both La Rioja and Pamplona to activate your emergency response in the event of foreseeable river floods. This Sunday, the SOS Rioja emergency service activated the pre-emergency phase provided for in the Special Civil Protection Plan against Floods (INUNCAR) due to the flood announced in the Ebro River in the coming days.

A significant variation in flows is expected: the Ebro River could leave flows of between 1,000 and 1,100 cubic meters per second as it passes through Logroño next Tuesday. For its part, Pamplona has raised the activation of its flood emergency plan to grade 1 and has initiated the request to remove vehicles from flood-prone areas, given the rising flow of the rivers that cross the city. The Municipal Police has asked citizens not to walk near the banks of the rivers.

The flows of the Nela, Jerea, Omecillo, Bayas and Zadorra rivers, in the provinces of Burgos and Álava, and Ega, Arga and Irati, in Navarra, continue to increase and the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation does not rule out some extraordinary flooding.

40 centimeters of snow in Catalonia

The snowfall that has fallen in Catalonia in the last few hours, the first of the season, They have left up to 40 centimeters of snow in the high levels of the western Pyrenees and more than 20 centimeters in some localities in the regions of Alta Ribagorça, the north of Pallars Sobirà and Aran.

According to Meteocat, the drop in temperatures has been noticed especially in the mountains, where the coldest morning of the season has been recorded. At high altitudes, The minimum has been between 10 and 15 degrees lower than that of Saturday first thing in the morning The forecasts indicate that the snowfall will continue on the northern slope of the Pyrenees until the end of Monday and the wind will generally decrease starting this afternoon, although temperatures will continue to drop.

The fear that the storm would worsen has led many drivers who have crossed the bridge in the Pyrenees to bring forward their return to Barcelona and the metropolitan area, so around midday they have begun to form kilometer-long queues of vehicles on the roads that give access to the Cadí tunnel. Some drivers have taken hours to reach their destination.

Although with less violence than yesterday afternoon, when historical records were reached with gusts of 174 kilometers per hour, The wind has continued to punish a good part of Catalonia this Sunday and has forced the suspension of train circulation on line R3 between Ripoll (Girona) and La Tour de Carol (France).

According to data from the meteorological stations, this Sunday wind gusts of more than one hundred kilometers per hour have been recorded in high altitudes of the Pyrenees, in the north of the Empordà region of Girona and in the final stretch of the Ebro. In the province of Castelló has reached gusts of 137 kilometers per hour in the area of ​​Rosell, and 133 kilometers per hour in Sant Mateu.

In the Balearic Islands, the strong winds recorded yesterday Saturday and early this Sunday have left a total of 278 incidents this morning in Mallorca, 6 in Ibiza and 5 in Menorca, mainly related to falling trees and landslides, as reported by 112 of this community.

Weather forecast

The snow accumulation forecasts for this Sunday are up to 40 centimeters in 24 hours above 1,200 meters, with the possibility of a blizzard, in the Pyrenees of Huesca and Navarre, the Arán Valley in Lleida, and the Cantabrian mountain range in Asturias, León and Palencia. The wind blows very strongly in Tarragona, Lleida, Girona, Castelló, Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel, with gusts that could exceed 100 kilometers/hour, and even 120 in high areas.

Due to the arctic nature of the air mass that comes with the storm, a notable thermal drop is occurring. Tomorrow, Monday, the winter episode will continue, with slightly lower snow levels, between 600 and 900 meters, except in the northwest where it will tend to rise slightly to 1000-1200 meters.

The greatest thicknesses are expected in points of the Cantabrian mountain range, where they may again exceed 30 centimeters, while in the Pyrenees the snowfall will gradually lose intensity. It is not ruled out that, although very weakly, snowfall may extend to high areas of the southern half of the peninsula.and the storm of both sea and wind is expected to decrease starting tomorrow.

Starting on Tuesday, it is likely that a colder but drier air mass will penetrate, driven by northeasterly winds, so that snowfall will become less and less abundant, ending this winter episode. Temperatures will continue to be low for much of the week, with frost in large areas of the interior of the peninsula, which would be more intense during Tuesday and Wednesday.