ARCHIVED - Storm Gloria obliterates the Ebro delta in Catalunya

10 dead across Spain and one UK national among the missing in the Balearics

The torrential rain, gale-force winds and snow brought by Storm Gloria to eastern Spain may have left the Region of Murcia, but further north in Catalunya the worst of the weather is only just coming to an end on Thursday morning and the effects on the coastline have been little short of catastrophic in some areas.

The delta of the River Ebro, one of the most instantly recognizable geographical features on the map of Spain (and one which many flying between the UK and the Costa Blanca or the Costa Cálida will have seen from the plane!), has all but disappeared under water, disappearing beneath the monstrous waves which have battered the coast and floodwater cascading towards the Mediterranean from inland areas. The Copernicus satellite pictures above show the effects from a geographer’s point of view, but down on the ground – or what used to be the ground – the situation is one of disaster.

Beaches in this area – and many others in Catalunya, including the city of Barcelona – have all but disappeared, the 3,000 hectares of rice fields have been lost and the seafood is reported to have been simply washed away as the waves reached three kilometres inland from where the coast normally lies. This effectively removes the three main sources of economic activity: fishing, rice and tourism, at a stroke.

Meanwhile, although definite data are hard to confirm, the death toll caused by Gloria has risen to 10 and at least four people are missing, including at least one UK national. The latest fatality reported was a man who was washed into the sea in the province of Girona on Wednesday evening while checking on his boat in the port of Palamós, while others to be added to the list include two in the province of Almería and a woman who was buried by rubble when her house collapsed in Alcoy, in the province of Alicante.

El temporal marítim pot fer que un cop de mar t’arrossegui...No t’aturis a contemplar les onades i allunya’t d'espigons, esculleres, passejos marítims i altres zones on trenquin les onades a prop. Cerca un lloc segur. pic.twitter.com/tDVDcf8mNf

— Emergències 112 Illes Balears (@112IllesBalears) January 21, 2020

The missing Briton is a 25-year-old man who disappeared in Cala Portinatx on the island of Ibiza after approaching the shore to take video footage of the spectacular waves crashing against the rocks there. At least two others are also missing in the Balearics and one more in Catalunya, and it is feared that as Gloria leaves the Iberian Peninsula leaving a 5-day trail of destruction behind her the death toll could rise further still.

Elsewhere the Military Emergencies Unit have been deployed not only to the coast but to inland areas such as Teruel, where rural communities have been isolated by up to 1.5 metres of snow.

Join the Murcia Weather Watch group on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest forecasts and weather-related stories: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RegionOfMurciaWeatherWatch/.