Natalia Penza
A woman is missing feared dead after falling into a swollen stream with one of her children during the storms currently lashing Spain.
The girl’s father jumped into the water and managed to save her but his wife vanished and the search for her was ongoing this Sunday.
The drama happened on Saturday evening around 7.30pm in Cabrera de Mar on the Mediterranean coast around 18 miles northeast of Barcelona.
The missing woman is aged around 40 and comes from Malgrat de Mar, a half-hour drive north of the spot where she was last seen.
Firefighters confirmed six units had been mobilised to search for her, saying they had also rescued two elderly people trapped by floodwater inside their car in Sentmenat a short drive inland.
Drones and police divers have also been incorporated into the operation.
The family caught up in yesterday’s drama are understood to have been heading back to their parked car after playing on a town basketball court when the woman was swept downstream by the force of the water as she tried to cross the waterway with the daughter her partner saved.
Cabrera de Mar mayor Oscar Fernández said on Saturday as the search got under way: “A family attempted to cross the stream on foot.
"One of its members was swept away by the water, which was surging with great force due to the heavy rainfall. We have no further information at this time.”
Red alert
News of the horror incident emerged as parts of Malaga province went onto red alert as torrential rain lashed the region.
Storm Adam caused widespread flooding in El Palo east of the city centre and turned streets into rivers.
La Axarquía, further east, was put on the maximum red alert in the early hours of this morning.
The south-east province of Almeria was also badly affected, with cars trapped and muddy floodwater gushing down streets and entering garages in municipalities like El Ejido.
Today a red warning is in place for the south coast of Valencia and north of Alicante.
Spain’s weather agency Aemet warned: “The meteorological danger is extraordinary. Property and vulnerable populations or in exposed areas could suffer very serious or catastrophic impacts.”
Missing boy found dead
On Thursday officials confirmed the decomposing body of a 12-year-old who went missing during the last bad storm affecting Spain’s Catalonia region, had been found off a beach in the holiday resort of Sitges.
The youngster, named only as Rami, disappeared on 4 October during a storm with torrential rain in Granollers near Barcelona.
He suffered level 2 autism and reports at the time said he had fled his home during the night because he was frightened and disorientated.
An online appeal was put out by a Spanish non-profit organisation that assists in the search for missing people on behalf of his family as volunteers joined cops and other officials in looking for him.
A fisherman found the youngster’s body on Wednesday afternoon near to Les Botigues Beach which is in the municipality of Sitges south of Barcelona.
Maritime Police went to the area after receiving the call. It was confirmed it was missing Rami after fingerprint tests.
Another person went missing around the same time as Rami, a man believed to have fallen into a flooded river in Pineda de Mar an hour’s drive north of Barcelona.
Two people died the day of the storms, one a 75-year-old man after a campsite wall collapsed on top of him in Tordera close to the Costa Brava coastline and another man in a flooded garage in Montornes del Valles, also in the province of Barcelona.