SEVERAL Spanish tourist hotspots battled severe floods and thunderstorms over the weekend, with roads turning into rivers.

The military deployed a disaster relief unit to the northeastern city of Zaragoza after intense storms caused flooding across the province.

They worked to drain the excess water and install roadblocks to prevent further flooding.

READ MORE: Red weather warning in Spain’s Catalunya: Emergency phone alert issued with DANA set to bring torrential rain

In Barcelona, a hospital was forced to close because of flooding caused by heavy rain lashing the Catalonian capital on Saturday.

Two people were reported missing from the town of Cubelles, with a witness claiming to see a woman and child fall into the Foix River and being swept away in the floodwaters. 

Rescue workers are continuing the search.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in Cubelles,” Cubelles town mayor Rosa Montserrat Fonoll told Catalan News. The flow of water reached 7,070 cubic feet per second through the town.

At the peak of the storm, emergency services received 1,200 calls in the town. Some residents remain without electricity or running water.

Spanish weather agency AEMET had warned that there was high potential for flash floods in eight provinces Barcelona, Teruel and Zaragoza, Huesca, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, and Castellón.

The agency recorded nearly 3,200 lightning strikes in Barcelona on Saturday alone, with the Tibidabo amusement park and Park Güell closed. There was also a swimming ban on public beaches.

The storm was caused by a weather phenomenon known as Dana, which is an isolated depression at high levels, caused by a mass of cold air colliding with a mass of warm air over the Mediterranean sea.

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RESIDENTS in Catalunya have been sent an emergency alert on their mobile phones as the region braces for a torrential DANA to make landfall. 

The message, sent by the Catalan Civil Protection unit, was sent at 2.30pm local time and reads: “CECAT: Risk of flooding due to torrential rain until 9pm. Avoid travel and outdoor activity. Do not go near rivers, streams or floodplains, avoid low-lying areas and basements. If water enters you, go up to higher floors. In case of emergency, call 112.”

State meteorological agency AEMET have issued a red weather warning for the region, meaning a severe risk to life.

Although initial warnings were orange and yellow, the forecast has deteriorated significantly, with Meteocat, Catalunya’s weather service, issuing a Level 5 and Level 6 warning – the highest level possible.

Localised rainfall could reach 40 litres per square metre as severe thunderstorms roll in.

A red weather alert has already been issued in Aragon.

Residents are fearful of a repeat of the devastating scenes seen last year in Valencia, where intense flooding caused the deaths of 232 people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in Spanish history. 

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