1 dead as Storm Barra wreaks havoc in northern Spain

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Storm Barra has brought flooding, landslides, strong winds and heavy precipitation to the north of Spain and claimed one life on Friday.

Police confirmed that a man in the region of Navarra was killed when a building collapsed on his car while he was inside.

Authorities have made several rescues of people trapped by snow or in floods in the hardest-hit regions of the Basque Country, Navarra, Asturias and Castile and Leon.

Storm Barra, which devastated parts of Ireland and the UK earlier this week, hit Spain after a series of storms had already left rivers at dangerously high levels and large quantities of snow in the mountains.

In much of northern Spain, it has been raining or snowing nearly every day for the last three weeks.

On Friday, the combination of heavy rain and melting snow caused rivers to burst their banks, with the situations particularly treacherous in the Basque Country and Navarra.

Several towns saw their streets totally flooded, while neighborhoods of cities like San Sebastian and Pamplona were also overwhelmed by water.

In the Basque Country, major highways remained closed to traffic on Friday afternoon and one hospital was made completely inaccessible by road.

Although the rain is slowly abating, Spain’s meteorological agency has still issued warnings about snowmelt in several Spanish provinces as well as strong winds in the Mediterranean area.

“We will face a critical moment later this afternoon in the province of Gipuzkoa,” said the vice president of the Basque Country on Friday.

President of Asturias Adrian Barbon linked the abnormal amounts of rainfall to climate change.

“In our case, climate change is making it rain harder over fewer days, which is much more dangerous as it leads to more landslides and flooding.”