BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The recurrent storms in eastern Spain that led to massive flooding last week and killed at least 217 people, mostly near Valencia, dumped rain on Barcelona on Monday, prompting authorities to suspend commuter rail service.
Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said he was suspending all commuter trains in northeast Catalonia, a region with 8 million people, on request from civil protection officials.
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A body found in the MN4 shopping centre on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain is placed in a funeral van after floods in the Valencia area, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
Military emergency unit (UME) personnel work to pump out water from an underground car park in the MN4 shopping centre as rescue workers look for bodies on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
A firefighter works in the entrance of an underground car park in the MN4 shopping centre as rescue workers look for bodies on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
A soldier works in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Vehicles trapped after the floods are pictured in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Mobile phones in Barcelona screeched with an alert for “extreme and continued rainfall” on the southern outskirts of the city. The alert urged people to avoid any normally dry gorges or canals.
Puente said that the rains had forced air traffic controllers to change the course of 15 flights operating at Barcelona’s airport, located on the southern flank of the city.
Several highways have been closed due to flooding.
Classes were cancelled in Tarragona, a city in southern Catalonia about halfway between Barcelona and Valencia, after a red alert for rains was issued.
Meanwhile, in Valencia, the search continued for bodies inside houses and thousands of wrecked cars strewn in the streets, on highways, and in canals that channeled last week's floods into populated areas.
Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that authorities can still not give a reliable estimate of the missing. Spanish national television RTVE, however, has broadcast pleas for help by several desperate people whose loved ones are unaccounted for.
In the Aldaia municipality, some 50 soldiers, police and firefighters, some wearing wetsuits, searched in a huge shopping center's underground parking lot for possible victims. They used a small boat and spotlights to move around in the huge structure with vehicles submerged in at least a meter of murky water.
Police spokesman Ricardo Gutiérrez told reporters that so far some 50 vehicles had been found and no bodies had been discovered there.
The Bonaire shopping mall's 1,800 underground parking spaces quickly filled with water and mud on Tuesday and Wednesday when the southern outskirts of Valencia were hit by a tsunami-like flooding. The team is using four pumps to remove the water.
Citizens, volunteers and thousands of soldiers and police officers pressed on with their gargantuan clean-up effort to clear out mud and debris.
Many people feel abandoned by authorities, their anger erupting on Sunday when a crowd tossed mud at Spain's royal couple, the prime minister and regional leaders as they made their first visit to Paiporta, where over 60 people died and the survivors have lost their homes and still don't have drinking water.
Spain is used to autumn storms that can lead to flooding, but the latest ones have produced the deadliest flooding in living memory for Spaniards.
Climate scientists and meteorologists say the immediate cause of the flooding was a cut-off lower-pressure storm system that migrated from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream. It was likely fueled by a record-hot Mediterranean Sea. That system simply parked itself over the region and unleashed a deluge.
The Spanish navy’s “Galicia” transport vessel arrived in Valencia’s port on Monday with marines, helicopters and trucks loaded with food and water to help with the relief effort, which included 7,500 soldiers and thousands of police reinforcements.
A body found in the MN4 shopping centre on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain is placed in a funeral van after floods in the Valencia area, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
Military emergency unit (UME) personnel work to pump out water from an underground car park in the MN4 shopping centre as rescue workers look for bodies on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
A firefighter works in the entrance of an underground car park in the MN4 shopping centre as rescue workers look for bodies on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
A soldier works in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Vehicles trapped after the floods are pictured in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Emergency services remove cars in an area affected by floods in Catarroja, Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
SEATTLE (AP) — Unionized factory workers at Boeing were voting Monday whether to accept a contract offer or to extend their strike, which has lasted more than seven weeks and shut down production of most Boeing passenger planes.
A vote to ratify the contract on the eve of Election Day would clear the way for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to resume airplane production. If members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers vote for a third time to reject Boeing's offer, it would plunge the aerospace giant into further financial peril and uncertainty.
In its latest proposed contract, Boeing is offering pay raises of 38% over four years plus ratification and productivity bonuses. IAM District 751, which represents Boeing workers in the Pacific Northwest, endorsed the proposal, which is slightly more generous than one the machinists voted down nearly two weeks ago.
Union officials said they achieved all they could though bargaining and the strike, and that if the current proposal is rejected, future offers from Boeing might be worse. They expect to announce the result of the vote late Monday.
Boeing says average annual pay for machinists is $75,608 and would rise to $119,309 in four years under the current offer.
Pensions were a key issue for workers who rejected the company's previous offers in September and October. In its new offer, Boeing did not meet their demand to restore a pension plan that was frozen nearly a decade ago.
If machinists ratify the contract now on the table, they would return to work by Nov. 12, according to the union.
The workers got their last paychecks in mid-September, a few days after the strike started, and are likely facing more pressure on their personal financial well-being.
Bernadeth Jimenez, who has worked in quality assurance at the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, since 2022, said she voted “yes” on Monday after voting against previous company offers. She was satisfied with the proposed wage increases, and said she never expected a pension anyway — she's putting money in a 401(k) plan.
“This (offer) is good, and I really want to go back to work,” she said. “This time we're ready.”
Theresa Pound isn't ready. The 16-year company veteran said she voted “no” just as she did on the two earlier offers that went to a vote.
“Adding 3% (to the previous offer) doesn’t change anything for my future. It still doesn’t solidify that when I retire I’m going to have a comfortable living, and that’s the bottom line," she said. “Instant gratification is not going to save me.”
Both Jimenez and Pound have husbands who also work at Boeing, and both couples anticipated the strike and worked overtime before it started. Still, money is getting tight.
“We're making it by the best we can," Pound said. "We're going to run out soon, but it’s not going to be a stopping point for me to say, ‘Well, I’m out of money. I need to go back.’ I’m going to find other ways to make it work.”
There were fewer pro-strike protesters in Everett than during the Oct. 23 vote.
At a union hall in Renton, also near Seattle, signs warning against campaigning had been moved from inside to outside, and there was no table with workers handing out “Vote No” material, like the last time. A small knot of workers gathered around a burn barrel to talk and keep warm. The mood was subdued.
The strike began Sept. 13 with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of Boeing's offer to raise pay by 25% over four years — far less than the union’s original demand for 40% wage increases over three years.
Machinists voted down another offer — 35% raises over four years, and still no revival of pensions — on Oct. 23, the same day that Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion. However, the offer received 36% support, up from 5% for the mid-September proposal, making Boeing leaders believe they were close to a deal.
The contract rejections reflected bitterness that built up after union concessions and small pay increases over the past decade.
The new proposal that Boeing made last week offered slightly larger pay increases plus a $12,000 contract-ratification bonus, up from $7,000 in the previous offer, and larger company contributions to employees’ 401(k) retirement accounts.
Boeing also promises to build its next airline plane in the Seattle area. Union officials fear the company might withdraw the pledge if workers reject the new offer.
The strike drew the attention of the Biden administration. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su intervened in the talks several times, including last week.
The labor standoff — the first strike by Boeing machinists since an eight-week walkout in 2008 — is the latest setback in a volatile year for the company.
Boeing came under several federal investigations after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators put limits on Boeing airplane production that they said would last until they felt confident about manufacturing safety at the company.
The door-plug incident renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the plane's crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The CEO whose effort to fix the company failed announced in March that he would step down. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max.
As the strike dragged on, new CEO Kelly Ortberg announced about 17,000 layoffs and a stock sale to prevent the company’s credit rating from being cut to junk status. S&P and Fitch Ratings said last week that the $24.3 billion in stock and other securities will cover upcoming debt payments and reduce the risk of a credit downgrade.
The strike has created a cash crunch by depriving Boeing of money it gets when delivering new planes to airlines. The walkout at Seattle-area factories stopped production of the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling plane, and the 777, or “triple-seven,” jet and the cargo-carrying version of its 767 plane.
Ortberg has conceded that trust in Boeing has declined, the company has too much debt, and “serious lapses in our performance” have disappointed many airline customers. But, he says, the company’s strengths include a backlog of airplane orders valued at a half-trillion dollars.
Koenig reported from Dallas.
Boeing employees arrive to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A Boeing employee walks by a picket sign urging people to vote no on a new contract offer from the company, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
An Everett police officer stands inside the Angel of the Winds Arena as Boeing employees arrive to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Boeing employees leave after voting on a new contract offer from the company, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, outside the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - A Boeing employee holds up flyers encouraging others to vote no on a new contract offer from the company, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
From left, Boeing employees Vance Meyring, Josue Ramirez and Joseph Mellon work the picket line after union members voted to reject a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, outside Boeing facilities in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A picket sign sits outside the Angel of the Winds Arena as striking Boeing employees gather to cast their votes, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A worker holds a sign as Boeing employees vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at a voting location in the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Boeing employees on strike arrive to vote on a new contract offer from the company Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at the Aerospace Machinists Union hall in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A Boeing employee walks by a sign carved out of wood while arriving to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at Seattle Union Hall in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Boeing employees on strike arrive to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at the Aerospace Machinists Union hall in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A volunteer holds a vote to accept a new contract offer from Boeing, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at Seattle Union Hall in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A Boeing employee looks at informational pamphlets before heading in to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at the Aerospace Machinists Union hall in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
