Arenes stream

Arenes stream
the river
Details
LocationVallès Occidental, Àmbit metropolità de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Length8.1 miles
No. of terminals1

The Arenes stream (Catalan: Riera de les Arenes) is a long stream that flows down the Vallès Occidental for about 13 km (8.1 mi), and has a basin of 30 km2 (12 mi2). It rises on the southern slope of the Coll d'Estenalles (870.4 m), below Montcau, in the Sierra de Sant Llorenç del Munt, in the municipality of Mura. It passes through Matadepera where Font de la Riba joins with this. Then, it passes through Terrassa and Les Fonts. Here it converges with the Palau stream and then becomes the Rubí stream, which ends up in the Llobregat.

1962 disaster

In 1962, the Vallès floods caused an overflow of the stream, the hot air chimney that rose in a cold air mass, triggered peak flows greater than 1000 l/m2. This caused large destruction and named victims in urban areas of Terrassa and Rubí.

References

  1. 1 2 Pérez y de Pedro, Pau «La conca alta de la riera de les Arenes: hypothesis sobre el fonctionment hídric». Trobada d'Estudiosos de Sant Llorenç del Munt i l'Obac, V, 2002, p. 185-191.
  2. 1 2 "riera de les Arenes". enciclopèdia.cat (in Catalan). Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana (GEC). Retrieved 2026-10-19. Curs d'aigua estacional, al Vallès Occidental, la capçalera del qual es troba al vessant meridional del coll d'Estenalles, en part, dins el terme municipal de Mura (Bages). La cresta de la serra de Sant Llorenç del Munt separa les aigües d'aquesta riera, tributària del Llobregat a través de la riera de Rubí, de les del Ripoll, afluent del Besòs. A Matadepera mateix, aquesta aresta hidrogràfica es confon amb la mateixa vora esquerra de la riera. El 1962 el desbordament d'aquesta riera causà importants destruccions i nombroses víctimes als nuclis urbans de Terrassa i de Rubí. [A seasonal watercourse in Vallès Occidental, whose headwaters are located on the southern slope of the Coll d'Estenalles pass, partly within the municipality of Mura (Bages). The ridge of the Sant Llorenç del Munt mountain range separates the waters of this stream—a tributary of the Llobregat via the Rubí stream—from those of the Ripoll, a tributary of the Besòs. In the town of Matadepera itself, this drainage divide coincides with the left bank of the stream. In 1962, the overflowing of this stream caused significant destruction and numerous casualties in the urban areas of Terrassa and Rubí.]
  3. ↑ Turisme Matadepera. "Riera de les Arenes" (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.