The heavy rainfall that hit Badalona on Tuesday exceeded 100 liters per square meter, causing major mobility incidents, fallen trees, and flooded basements, particularly in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
Sources from the Department of Interior and Security explained that initial weather forecasts only indicated a pre-alert scenario, as no European model anticipated the actual intensity of the highly localized storm.
“"We do not have jurisdiction, and that corresponds to the Generalitat."
The main reason for not activating ES-Alert was the absence of “hydrological risk”—the danger of rivers or streams overflowing. The incident was classified as “pluvial flooding,” caused by the sewer system's temporary inability to cope with the sudden volume of water.
Protecció Civil maintains that the ES-Alert system is reserved for exceptional situations posing an immediate and severe threat to life, such as major forest fires or chemical emergencies, requiring a high degree of certainty regarding the potential impact.
