Spanish city braces for flooding from swollen Ebro River

MADRID (AP) — Authorities in the Spanish city of Zaragoza are bracing for a critical surge in the level of the Ebro River after flooding further upstream in recent days was blamed for two deaths. The river’s flow rate climbed Tuesday to almost double Sunday’s rate as water from torrential rain and thawing snow rushed down the Ebro valley. City authorities attempted to minimize any potential damage by taking precautionary measures along the riverbank. Those included evacuations and traffic diversions. The Ebro is the second-longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. The river stretches 930 kilometers (580 miles) from the mountains of Cantabria to the Mediterranean Sea.