A sudden downpour caused 150 incidents across Bizkaia, including 137 in Bilbao. More than 70 millimetres of rain fell in some areas as tunnels closed and Euskalmet kept an orange alert in force until midnight.
By 20.30 on Saturday, SOS Deiak and the Basque Department of Security had recorded 150 weather-related incidents across Bizkaia. Bilbao accounted for 137 of them. Water reached knee level in parts of the city centre, while streets, tunnels, bars, garages and ground-floor shops flooded in under an hour.
The Casco Viejo took the worst hit. Residents and visitors were caught outside during the afternoon as water entered bars, garages and ground-floor premises. El Independiente reported that water ran downhill along sloping streets with enough force to make some homes harder to reach and narrower roads difficult to cross.
The rain came fast.
More than 70 millimetres of rain were reported at some points in Bilbao and inland Bizkaia during the episode, according to local reports.
Some people stayed on terraces until the rain eased. Others tried to get out of the most confined streets as water entered bars and garages at street level.
Shopkeepers used what they had. Several put wooden boards across their entrances. Firefighters worked in multiple premises to pump out the water.
The flooding also reached roads outside the city centre. Traffic through the La Avanzada tunnels in Leioa was suspended because of the water. Similar incidents were reported in Getxo, Basauri, Laudio, Galdakao, Sestao and Erandio.
Warnings had been issued before the flooding intensified: on 2 October, local reports and emergency services had highlighted the risk of thunderstorms and very heavy rain in Bizkaia, including the possibility of significant water accumulation over a short period.
Euskalmet kept an orange alert in force across Bizkaia until midnight. Rain was expected to ease later in the province as the storm moved south. The orange warning was due to change to yellow and remain in place until 06.00 on Sunday.
The storm was part of a wider spell of severe weather across Spain. Eleven autonomous communities were under some form of meteorological warning. Catalonia had red alerts in Barcelona and Girona until Sunday midday. An earlier rain alert had already detailed the situation there.
Asturias, Cantabria and Madrid faced orange warnings for rain and yellow warnings for storms. Andalucía, Baleares, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Galicia and the Basque Country remained under yellow alerts for both types of weather.
Barcelona and Girona also faced orange storm warnings. Rainfall could exceed 90 litres per square metre in one hour and 200 litres in six hours. Those figures explain the operational response.
In Bilbao, the damage was immediate. Streets became channels, shops had to block their doors and flooded tunnels could no longer carry traffic. Emergency services were dealing with 150 incidents while the orange alert remained active. Homes, businesses and transport were all affected across Bizkaia.
