Spectacular landslide on a spectacular Catalan mountain. Amid heavy rain, the monastery on the mountain of Montserrat has been hit by a landslide from the rugged mountains peaks above, with substantial rock and debris falls that have left a road closed and the hotel evacuated. The alert was given at 1:57pm this Friday, and two fire units were dispatched to the building - where they did not detect any structural damage, in their first assessment. There were no injuries either, but it was decided to evacuate the hotel at the emblematic Catalan religious landmark and tourist location as a precaution. The road closed by the landslide was local road BP-1103.
Heavy rain in Montserrat - on a day that has been completely fine in Barcelona, just 50 km away - caused a major landslide of water, rocks and vegetation near the hotel in the grounds of the historic Benedictine Abbey early on Friday afternoon. According to the Meteocat weather service, nearly 30 litres/m2 of water fell in half an hour - using other measurement systems, that's 30mm, or 1.2 inches. The monastery informed the ACN news agency that the landslide took place on the back wall of Hotel Abat Cisneros and that it mostly affected the kitchen area. The people who were in the hotel left the building and about forty people who were eating in the restaurant at the time were evacuated. Tomorrow, June 10th, marks the 23rd anniversary of the Montserrat flash flood event in the year 2000 that caused the death of five people.
Torrents of rain
El Nacional.cat weatherman Xavi Freixes warned on Thursday that torrential rain and possibly dangerous wet weather was about to arrive in Catalonia. Specifically, he warned that a new wave of heavy rainfalls and hail storms would affect much of Catalonia with intense falls of up to 20 litres/m2 in half an hour - as has indeed happened in Montserrat. Sudden intense rainstorms, often highly localized and tending to fall in the afternoons after fine hot mornings, are a common feature of Catalonia's weather in the warmer months. An unstable weekend is forecast for the days just ahead in Catalonia, hot and humid but with showers and thunderstorms becoming more general and stronger. Maximum temperatures for Saturday range between Barcelona's 26 degrees Celsius and Tortosa's 33ºC.