Alert for intense rains in Catalunya: warnings for precipitation, wind, and rough sea this Wednesday

In Spain, there is no single formal “license” for an autonomous community to issue weather warnings, but there is a set of legal and operational requirements derived from the basic civil protection legislation and the regulation of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET). These requirements condition how and when a community can activate official warnings to the population.

1. Basic competence framework

The Law 17/2015, of July 9, on the National Civil Protection System establishes a state system in which the State sets the bases and the autonomous communities develop their own civil protection and emergency organization. On this basis:

• The Royal Decree 186/2008, which approves the AEMET Statute, assigns the Agency the mission of providing meteorological services of general interest throughout the national territory.
• The State Civil Protection Plan against flood risk (Resolution of August 2, 2011) specifies that AEMET is the body of the General State Administration responsible for the preparation, supply, and dissemination of meteorological information and forecasts and for the issuance of warnings and forecasts of meteorological phenomena that may affect the safety of people and property.
• State and territorial plans are integrated into the General State Civil Protection Emergency Plan (Resolution of December 16, 2020), which regulates the National Alert Network (RAN) as a system for communicating emergency warnings to authorities and the population.

Each autonomous community also has its own autonomous civil protection law and its territorial and special plans, approved by the National Civil Protection Commission, where its organization and the way to activate warnings and plans are specified.

2. Prerequisites to activate warnings

In light of this framework, an autonomous community must meet, at a minimum, the following structural requirements to issue official meteorological warnings:

• Have an autonomous civil protection system (autonomous law, competent body, and coordination centers), integrated into the National Civil Protection System according to Law 17/2015.
• Have autonomous civil protection plans (territorial and special for risks such as floods, fires, coastal phenomena, etc.) that:
  • Are approved by the community and, when appropriate, endorsed by the National Civil Protection Commission.
  • Define activation levels and risk thresholds associated with different adverse meteorological situations.
• Establish formal coordination mechanisms with AEMET, usually through agreements or protocols, so that AEMET’s forecasts and warnings serve as a reference for activating autonomous plans.
• If there is an autonomous meteorological service, its activity must align with AEMET’s state competencies, complementarily and coordinated, without contradicting official national warnings.

3. Conditions to activate official meteorological warnings

When an adverse weather episode occurs, the community can activate warnings and emergency plans but must respect certain conditions derived from the state framework:

• Be based on recognized technical information: activation must rely on forecasts and warnings from AEMET and, if applicable, from autonomous meteorological services integrated into state or autonomous protocols. State plans (for example, the flood plan) expressly provide that decisions are made based on information provided by AEMET.
• Activate the autonomous plan at the planned level: autonomous plans specify when a pre-emergency situation, level 1, 2 emergency, etc., is declared, usually linked to certain thresholds of precipitation, wind, temperature, snow, or coastal phenomena, equivalent to the known warning levels (yellow, orange, red).
• Notify the National Civil Protection System: the General State Emergency Plan provides that the activation of autonomous plans in certain operational situations is a mandatory emergency notification to the National Emergency Monitoring and Coordination Center (CENEM), through the National Alert Network (RAN).
• Use warning channels provided in the plans: warnings to the population must be made through the means included in the plans and state protocols:
  • Emergency communication networks and the RAN itself.
  • Media and official websites.
  • Public alert systems based on mobile phone networks (mass messages, cell broadcast-type systems), which the General State Plan contemplates as possible warning channels.
  Their use complies with protocols approved by the Ministry of the Interior and data protection regulations.
• Respect the competence hierarchy: although the community can issue its own warnings in its territory, AEMET’s warnings retain the status of official state reference. Autonomous warnings cannot formally discredit AEMET nor alter the common information framework to the National Civil Protection System.

4. Differences between communities and summary

Beyond this basic framework, each autonomous community can add specific requirements (bodies that must sign the activation order, internal procedures, integration with autonomous police, etc.) in its own regulations. However, all share the core elements:

• Integration into the National Civil Protection System (Law 17/2015).
• Reference to AEMET’s information and warnings as the main technical basis.
• Activation of endorsed autonomous plans with defined risk thresholds.
• Mandatory communication to the State through the National Alert Network when certain levels are activated.
• Use of population alert channels provided in the plans and coordinated with the Interior Ministry.

In summary, a community can activate official meteorological warnings if it does so within a planned civil protection system, coordinated with AEMET and other levels of Administration, and using the procedures and channels established in the basic legislation and its own endorsed plans.

The Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (SMC or Meteocat) plays a central role in managing adverse weather episodes in Catalonia, but its competence lies in forecasting and issuing technical meteorological warnings, not in activating civil protection alerts or sending ES-Alert messages to mobile phones.

According to official documentation from the Generalitat and information gathered by Demócrata, the SMC is the body responsible for analyzing, modeling, and forecasting potentially dangerous meteorological phenomena (intense rains, strong winds, large hail, maritime storms, heat waves or extreme cold, etc.). Based on that forecast:

• It issues risk meteorological warnings, with different levels of danger (for example, orange or red), quantifying the expected probability and intensity (liters per square meter in a time interval, maximum wind gusts, wave height, etc.).
• It transmits these warnings to the Generalitat’s Civil Protection and the Catalonia Operational Coordination Center (CECAT), which assess the impact on population, infrastructure, and activity and decide on activating emergency plans.

A clear example appears in the Government’s notes on episodes of intense rain and hail. The SMC reports that certain thresholds may be exceeded, such as 20 or 40 l/m² in 30 minutes, or that there is a risk of “temps violent” associated with storms and large hail. These warnings are the input that leads Civil Protection to activate or raise the phase of plans such as INUNCAT (floods), VENTCAT (wind), PROCICAT (territorial civil protection), or those related to snow, waves, or extreme cold.

Another key line of work for the SMC is the technical improvement of detection and early warning systems. The Generalitat has highlighted, for example, the deployment of the LLAMPEC network, an advanced 3D lightning detection network, and research on episodes of “pedra gegant” (giant hail). These developments allow refining violent weather warnings, reducing uncertainty about where and when an intense phenomenon may occur, and gaining minutes or hours of anticipation, which strengthens the response capacity of Civil Protection and municipalities.

However, the available information makes clear that the SMC does not have operational competence in civil protection. In particular:

• It does not decide the activation of emergency plans (INUNCAT, VENTCAT, PROCICAT, etc.). That decision corresponds to the Directorate General of Civil Protection, which assesses vulnerability, exposure, affected population, and possible impacts.
• It does not issue ES-Alert alerts to mobile phones. In a Demócrata article about the Tarragona floods, the SMC director, Sarai Sarroca, emphasizes that sending ES-Alert is the responsibility of Civil Protection and CECAT, not the meteorological service.
• It does not give direct instructions to the population; such recommendations (avoiding travel, closing parks, limiting outdoor activities, etc.) are channeled through Civil Protection and municipalities.

Consequently, in managing alerts for adverse phenomena, a chain of responsibilities can be distinguished:

• The SMC forecasts, monitors, quantifies risk, and issues meteorological warnings, including very short-term “violent weather” warnings, which are made available to emergency authorities, other bodies (such as the Catalan Water Agency), and the public.
• The Directorate General of Civil Protection and CECAT transform those technical warnings into operational decisions: activation of plans, orders to emergency services, mobility restrictions, and, if applicable, issuance of ES-Alert alerts.
• Companies, administrations, and citizens must take SMC warnings into account when designing self-protection and risk prevention plans, as reflected in labor guidelines against floods approved by the Government.

In summary, the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya has technical and scientific competencies in managing alerts for adverse phenomena (forecasting, monitoring, issuing warnings, and improving detection systems), but the legal and operational competence to declare civil protection alerts and send ES-Alert messages lies with the Generalitat’s Civil Protection and CECAT.

In recent years, practically all Spanish autonomous communities have had official warnings for intense rains issued by AEMET or Civil Protection, although the most notable episodes are concentrated in the Mediterranean arc, the south, and some interior areas. Based on notes from the Ministry of the Interior, AEMET, and the press (including the newspaper Demócrata), the following communities and some recent examples can be clearly identified.

Mediterranean arc and Balearic Islands

• Comunitat Valenciana: is one of the territories with the most orange and red warnings for torrential rains. Interior records episodes of floods and adverse meteorological phenomena in various counties, with very high accumulations and red and orange warnings in 2024 and 2025, linked to DANAs such as Alice and storm trains (Interior note 11/25/2025). ABC and elDiario.es news detail episodes with more than 100–140 l/m² in 24 hours and active orange warnings in Castellón and Valencia.
• Region of Murcia: appears both in civil protection emergency lists for floods and in AEMET red warnings for DANA, with risk of “sudden and flash floods” in Alicante and Murcia (Demócrata, 10/09/2025).
• Catalonia: Interior and AEMET record several episodes of floods in Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, as well as warnings for very heavy and persistent rains, often associated with DANAs and Mediterranean storms (Interior, 11/25/2025).
• Illes Balears: the islands repeatedly appear with red warnings for extreme rains and flood episodes, such as the storm that left up to 236 l/m² in Ibiza and Formentera and led to the declaration of a severely affected area by civil protection emergencies (Interior, 11/25/2025).

Andalusia and southern peninsula

• Andalusia: Interior documents numerous episodes of intense rains and floods, with activation of red rain warnings (11/12/2024) and multiple flood emergencies in 2024–2025, especially in Málaga and around the Strait (Interior, 04/01/2025). The press highlights episodes with river overflows and preventive evacuations.
• Region of Murcia: besides the red warnings mentioned, it appears as an affected area by floods in several Interior notes and live reports on rain storms in the southeastern peninsula.

Center and interior

• Community of Madrid: The Community has activated the pre-emergency phase of its flood plan (INUNCAM) after AEMET warnings for intense rains, with orange level and significant risk in the metropolitan area and Henares corridor (Demócrata, 04/29/2026). Additionally, Interior includes it among the autonomous communities with intense rain phenomena and overflows in 2024–2025.
• Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León: both communities appear in successive Interior notes as affected by intense rain and flood episodes, as well as AEMET warnings associated with DANAs and storms. Overflows and emergencies are cited in counties of Guadalajara, Toledo, León, Zamora, or Palencia.
• Extremadura: appears in the Council of Ministers agreement declaring affected areas by civil protection emergencies in eleven autonomous communities, linked to floods and adverse meteorological phenomena between September 2024 and March 2025 (Interior, 04/01/2025).
• La Rioja: included in orange warnings for rains and storms in the northern and northeastern interior peninsula, and in Interior notes for adverse meteorological phenomena and floods.

Northern peninsula and Atlantic

• Galicia: appears as one of the communities with floods and civil protection emergencies associated with rain storms and storm trains, with extraordinary releases in the Tajo, Duero, and Guadiana basins that have also affected its Atlantic territory (Interior, 04/01/2025). Demócrata also documents the use of the ES-Alert system in Pontevedra due to flood risk (January 2026).
• Asturias and Navarra: are part of the list of communities declared affected areas by civil protection emergencies in 2025, with episodes of floods and intense rains recorded in the government agreement of November 2025 (Interior, 11/25/2025).

Overall, official sources show that warnings for intense rains (yellow, orange, and sometimes red) have been recurrent in Andalusia, Comunitat Valenciana, Region of Murcia, Catalonia, Illes Balears, Galicia, Madrid, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Aragón, La Rioja, Asturias, and Navarra, among others, with episodes that have required activating flood plans, ES-Alert, and declarations of severely affected areas by civil protection emergencies.