An intense hailstorm has flooded some streets in the center of Sant Hilari Sacalm (la Selva) this Wednesday afternoon. The Generalitat Firefighters have had to mobilize six crews to remove the water that accumulated, since the drains have been rendered useless by the hail that has fallen.
The notification to the emergency services was given around half past four in the afternoon after a strong downpour of water discharged in the municipality. One of the most affected places has been the Dr. Gravalosa promenade and some nearby bajos.
There have been houses flooded and some cars trapped by the height of the accumulated stone, in some places almost one meter. No injuries have been reported, but emergency teams have rescued the occupants of a vehicle. A woman with twins would have suffered an anxiety attack over the situation.
The rain has also flooded part of the town's water treatment plant, and two more crews of the Firefighters have moved there in order to get water. It is not the only municipal facility affected. The mayor of Sant Hilari Sacalm, Joan Ramon Veciana, explained that water has also entered the sports hall, the library, the old people's home and even the town hall itself.
Between half past four and half past five in the afternoon, the Fire Department responded to six calls in Sant Hilari Sacalm and five more in other municipalities in the Guilleries area, eleven in total. At three in the afternoon, Civil Protection activated the pre-alert phase of the Inuncat plan.
The amount of water and hail recorded in a short time (about 60 liters have fallen in one hour) has clogged scuppers and the sewage network. Numerous businesses, basements and private garages have also been affected by the floods, as explained by the mayor.
"A lot of stone has fallen, first small and then a little bigger, the size of a chickpea, which has left a sea of hail," the mayor of the municipality explained in statements to La Vanguardia, who did not remember "any episode with so much amount of stone or fall as continuously as this”.
Veciana recalls that in the summer of 2019 some streets were also flooded by a hailstorm with a larger stone, but then the downpour was not as prolonged as on this occasion.
Around seven in the evening, firefighters and a backhoe machine continued to remove the accumulated hail from the road and highway. The mayor explains that at the moment the affectation that the waterspout may have had on the industries of the municipality is unknown.
