Damage caused by the overflowing Cidacos river in Tafalla, Navarre, Spain, 09 July 2019. Photo credit: Gobierno de Navarra
Damage caused by the overflowing Cidacos river in Tafalla, Navarre, Spain, 09 July 2019. Photo credit: Gobierno de Navarra

by Richard Davies, floodlist.com

Intense heavy rainfall in north-eastern Spain caused flash flooding in the Navarre region on 08 July, 2019. According to Meteo Navarra ( http://meteo.navarra.es/), the town of Guetádar recorded 158.9 mm of rain on 08 July and the town of Tafalla recorded 100.2 mm.  Much of the rain fell in the space of a few hours.

The rain caused the Cidacos (Zidacos) river to break its banks, flooding areas around the towns of Tafalla, Olite, Pueyo, Pitillas and Beire. A state of disaster was declared soon after in the municipality of Tafalla. One fatality was reported as a result of the floods after a man drowned in his vehicle in the municipality of Ezprogui, around 20km north-east of Tafalla. Local Civil Protection said that levels of the Cidacos river at Olite jumped from 0.18 metres at 18:00 on 08 July to 5.75 metres just 6 hours later, and the flow rate from 0.3 to 262.3 m3/s. The regional government of Navarre said levels of the Cidacos reached the highest on record during this time.

Damage caused by the overflowing Cidacos river in Tafalla, Navarre, Spain, 09 July 2019. Photo credit: Gobierno de Navarra
Damage caused by the overflowing Cidacos river in Tafalla, Navarre, Spain, 09 July 2019. Photo credit: Gobierno de Navarra

The Navarra government said that the material damage caused by the flooding was far-reaching, affecting cars, garages, basements, shops, industrial buildings, sports areas and the N-121 road between Pamplona and Tudela. According to initial government estimates, damage to the N-121 would take 1 to 2 months to repair. Dozens of other roads, including parts of the AP-15, were also damaged.  Rail transport was interrupted, as was power supply to thousands of homes.

Images on twitter shows cars being dragged along streets by flood water. The regional fire service said that the following day they were continuing to find abandoned cars trapped in flood waters.

Twitter links

https://twitter.com/PCTolosa/status/1148316906165694464

https://twitter.com/PCTolosa/status/1148323440186810369

https://twitter.com/policiaforal_na/status/1148324021559341056

https://twitter.com/PCTolosa/status/1148330198913429505

https://twitter.com/gob_na/status/1148351573917085697

https://twitter.com/RoberCamara/status/1148617960950566912

https://twitter.com/anamartinez0811/status/1148484398347640832

https://twitter.com/Asiersangar/status/1148341266981277697