Man found dead in flooded Barcelona underpass as Catalan storm toll reaches three

Discovery in flooded underpass

Cleaning workers in the municipality of Les Franqueses del Vallès discovered the body of an unidentified man inside a submerged vehicle at approximately 11:00 on Wednesday, 7 October. The vehicle, a van, was located within a flooded section of the subterranean underpass on the Ronda Nord bypass, along the C-352 roadway. Emergency crews, including units from the Bombers de la Generalitat and the Mossos d'Esquadra, were dispatched to the site following the notification by municipal maintenance workers. The underpass is situated in an area of the Vallès Oriental region that experienced heavy water accumulation during the recent episode of torrential rain. Preliminary police examinations indicated no evidence of criminal violence surrounding the death. The Mossos d'Esquadra assumed control of the judicial investigation to clarify the precise circumstances of the incident.

Storm death toll in Catalonia

The recovery in Les Franqueses del Vallès marks the third suspected fatality linked to the torrential weather system affecting the Catalonia region. The two earlier confirmed deaths occurred over the preceding weekend across different municipalities in the province of Barcelona. In Montornès del Vallès, a man drowned after being caught by rising floodwaters inside an underground garage. In Tordera, another person died after a structural wall collapsed under the force of the downpours. A missing person report relating to the man found in the C-352 underpass had been lodged on Sunday, 4 October, as the storm intensified. Judicial authorities and forensic personnel are carrying out identification protocols to confirm whether the fatality was directly caused by the flood.

Parallel searches for missing individuals

Catalan emergency services are concurrently carrying out search operations for two other individuals who went missing across the province. In Pineda de Mar, rescue crews are searching for an adult man after two eyewitnesses reported seeing him swept away by surging water. In nearby Granollers, hundreds of local volunteers joined police and emergency teams to conduct a large-scale search for a missing minor. Authorities stated that while the youth's disappearance was not initially triggered by the storm, severe rainfall and waterlogged conditions have complicated search logistics on the ground. Regional emergency officials confirmed that the deceased individual recovered in Les Franqueses del Vallès does not correspond to either the missing minor from Granollers or the missing man from Pineda de Mar.

Emergency rescue operations and deployment

The severe rainfall required extensive deployments by regional emergency teams across affected municipalities in the Barcelona metropolitan area. During the preceding night alone, the Bombers de la Generalitat completed 45 emergency rescues to extricate people trapped inside flooded road vehicles or immobilized in building elevators. The fire service mobilized 13 specialized operational units to handle weather-related emergencies across the territory. Eight of those 13 units were dispatched to lead and support the search operation for the missing minor in Granollers. Firefighters and local maintenance crews continue working to drain inundated underpasses and clear debris from regional roads, while the Mossos d'Esquadra maintain perimeter cordons around the flooded C-352 corridor.