Woman dies after being swept away by river as torrential rains batter Spain

MADRID, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A woman died after she was swept away trying to cross a river in torrential rain in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, authorities said ​on Sunday, bringing to five the death toll from heavy rain ‌and flooding over the past 15 days. The 35-year-old was swept away in Cabrera de Mar, about 27 km (17 miles) north of Barcelona, as she tried to cross a river ​with her children on Saturday night, despite warnings not to go ​near waterways.

Sign up here. Óscar Fernández, the Cabrera de Mar mayor, told reporters on ⁠Sunday that the woman had been to see a basketball match at ​which people were asked not to leave the municipal facility because of the ​torrential rain. Roads were closed and train services reduced, as Catalan authorities warned residents not to travel unnecessarily. The woman's body was found on Sunday by rescuers in the sea, the Civil ​Protection Service said.

Flooding is becoming more frequent across Europe as the atmosphere ​warms and holds more moisture due to climate change, scientists say. Spain has been particularly ‌hard ⁠hit. Valencia and Alicante in the country's southeast and Almeria in the south have also been affected by torrential rains which flooded homes, washed away cars and closed roads. "It started raining, it was fast. This stream carried a lot of ​water and it filled ​up really fast. ⁠The problem was that there were cars in the middle of the highway.

It washed them away,” Beatriz Mendoza, ​who owns a commercial greenhouse in Almeria which was destroyed ​by ⁠the rain, told Canalsur, a local television station on Sunday. In August, a flood and landslide caused by torrential rain killed two elderly women near Pontevedra in rural northwestern ⁠Spain, as ​seven regions were placed on yellow alert ​for storms and heavy rain. The flooding followed weeks of record high temperatures that led to a series ​of devastating wildfires.

Reporting by Graham Keeley and Nina Lopez; Editing by Christina Fincher Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab Suggested Topics: World X Facebook Linkedin Email Link Purchase Licensing Rights