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Storm Nils tore through northeastern Spain on Thursday, unleashing fierce winds that exceeded 100 kilometres per hour and left 86 people injured across the Catalonia region.
Of those injured, 34 required hospitalisation, with two individuals in serious condition and one in critical condition.
The Catalan civil protection agency reported that the “exceptional” gusts toppled trees and walls in the heart of Barcelona, prompting a surge of emergency calls and causing widespread property damage in the metropolitan area.
The extreme weather triggered massive disruptions to travel and daily life.
At Barcelona’s El Prat airport, the country’s second busiest, 101 flights were cancelled, and 10 others were diverted to safer locations.
Local authorities took the proactive step of suspending school classes and non-urgent medical appointments for the region’s eight million residents.
Nuria Parlon, head of the region’s interior department, noted that the public’s cooperation in limiting movement helped prevent a significantly higher number of accidents during the peak of the storm.
Beyond Spain, Storm Nils left a trail of destruction across the Iberian Peninsula and into France.
In Portugal, the surge caused a river to burst its banks, leading to the partial collapse of a highway viaduct on the main motorway between Lisbon and Porto.
In southwestern France, the storm turned fatal when a falling tree struck and killed a truck driver.
The French power grid also suffered a major blow, leaving approximately 900,000 households without electricity as the system struggled to cope with the wind’s intensity.
This latest episode of extreme weather is the fourth such event to strike the region in recent weeks, following a series of storms that have already claimed lives and displaced thousands through severe flooding.
Climate scientists have warned that the increasing frequency and violence of these storms are a direct result of rising global temperatures.
As the winds began to subside late Thursday, officials remained on high alert, emphasising that these intensifying weather patterns are becoming a dangerous new norm for Southern Europe.
