Visit Blanes

VisitBlanes.com — Catalonia last night was battered by a rain storm with strong gusts of wind and waves up to four meters high.

The largest waves occurred in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona) and Blanes (Girona), but Protecció Civil, Catalonia’s Civil Protection service, has listed incidents of storm damage in towns along the entire coast.

In most cases the damage is limited to the erosion of beaches, or some flooding of promenades and roads near the coast.

This time around no damage has been reported to the promenade along S’Abanell, the beach along Blanes’ tourist district.

In previous years storms frequently ate away sections of the boulevard.

In 2009 the boulevard was repaired and reinforced — temporary measures in anticipation of an ambitious redevelopment and improvement project affecting the beach, promenade and streets in the El Pins district.

Each year storm damage to the beaches is repaired.

Much Rain

The large amounts of rain have caused minor landslides, such as on Vidal y Barraquer, one of the roads leading to Blanes’ Castell de Sant Joan.

In recent months Catalonia has been inundated with heavy rains. To give an idea of the amount of water involved, local news website BlanesAldia.com says that from October 19 Malgrat de Mar — just south of Blanes — has seen 510 liters of rainwater per square meter, the amount usually collected during an entire year.

Minor landslides and some flooding has been reported in rural areas throughout Catalonia.

The Civil Protection service has activated the alert phase of INUNCAT, an emergency plan that deals with the threat or occurrence of flooding. It has closed access to some jetties and boulevards along the coast.

The weather services says that while the storm has moved on, waves of up to 2.5 meters high can still be expected.