Spain: Flood Inundates Nursing Home, Killing 4 Residents
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A river in northeastern Spain swelled by torrential downpours overflowed its banks early Tuesday morning, inundating a nursing home and killing four elderly residents, authorities said.
Five residents were rescued and hospitalized after the water engulfed the ground floor of the building next to the Sio River in the town of Agramunt, about 90 minutes' drive inland from Barcelona.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted condolences to the victims' families. Agramunt Mayor Xavier Secanell told Rac1 radio that the nursing home flooded in an inundation that put much of the town under water in less than 30 minutes before dawn.
He said it didn't rain in Agramunt but that the river was swollen by rain that fell upstream, The Associated Press reported.
The deaths in Spain happened two days after the same series of storms hit a seaside resort in Portugal, killing an 80-year-old man whose car was found submerged on Monday.
The storm in the Portuguese town of Albufeira swept away cars, uprooted trees and washed away roads. Downtown stores were flooded with brown water almost to the ceiling.
