Residents film Spanish streets flooding with seafoam during violent Storm Gloria

Katie Mather
·Internet Culture Reporter

Following Storm Gloria, the Spanish town of Tossa de Mar is facing an unexpected consequence: thick blankets of seafoam.

Storm Gloria began wreaking havoc on Monday, devastating beaches and roads and causing major power outages. It was reported that waves as big as 23 feet high were crashing on top of coastal cities and towns. The storm surged two miles inland, destroying rice paddies in the Ebro river delta, says BBC News.

And now Tossa de Mar, which hosts a beach resort and is just north of Barcelona, is now dealing with seafoam engulfing the streets and parts of buildings.

Seafoam forms when ocean water gets shaken up and occurs naturally — but sometimes pollution, whether it's from fossil fuels or sewage, can make it thicker, stickier and grosser, according to Gizmodo. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says seafoam is "not generally" harmful to humans.

High winds have made the foam harder to remove.

The head of Barcelona’s Beach Service said this storm is the “worst experienced this century.”