MADRID (AP) – A persistent blizzard has covered large parts of Spain with record snow levels for 50 years, killing at least four people and leaving thousands trapped in cars or at stations and airports that had suspended all services as snow fell on Saturday .
The bodies of a man and a woman were recovered by the emergency service in the Andalucía region after their car was washed by a flooded river near the town of Fuengirola. The Interior Ministry said a 54-year-old man was also found dead in Madrid under a large pile of snow. A homeless man has died of hypothermia in the northern city of Zaragoza, the local police department reported.
More than half of Spain’s provinces remained on alert on Saturday afternoon, five of them at the highest level of warning, for Storm Filomena. In the capital, authorities have activated the red alert for the first time since the system was adopted four decades ago and called on the army to rescue people from vehicles trapped in everything from small roads to the city’s main roads.
More than 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow fell in the capital. On Saturday until 7 in the morning, the national weather agency AEMET had recorded the biggest 24-hour snow seen since 1971 in Madrid.
Sandra Morena, who was stranded late Friday while commuting on a night shift as a security guard at a shopping center, arrived home on foot after an army emergency unit helped her on Saturday morning.
“It usually takes me 15 minutes, but this time I was 12 hours of frost, no food or water, crying with other people because I didn’t know how we would get out of there,” said 22-year-old Morena.
“Snow can be very beautiful, but spending the night in a car because of that is not fun at all,” she added.
AEMET had warned that some regions would receive more than 24 hours of continuous snow due to the strange combination of a stagnant cold air mass over the Iberian Peninsula and the arrival of the warmer Filomena storm from the south.
The storm is expected to move northeast throughout Saturday, but is expected to be followed by a cold blow, the agency said.
Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos warned that “the snow will turn to ice and we will be in a situation that is perhaps more dangerous than what we have at the moment”.
He added that the priority was to assist those in need, but also to ensure the supply chain with food and other basic goods.
“The storm exceeded the most pessimistic forecasts we had,” Ábalos added.
Carlos Novillo, head of the Madrid emergency agency, said more than 1,000 vehicles were trapped, mostly on the city’s ring road and on the main highway from the capital to the south, to the regions of Castilla La Mancha and Andalucia.
“The situation remains high risk. This is a very complex phenomenon and a critical situation “, Novillo declared on Saturday morning in a message posted on social networks.
“We ask all those who remain trapped to be patient, we will reach you,” he added.
The AENA airport operator said that Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas International Airport, the main gateway to and from the country, will remain closed throughout the day after the blizzard has defeated cars and workers who will try to keep the runways clear of snow.
All trains to and from Madrid, both commuter routes and long-distance passenger trains, as well as the railway lines between the south and northeast of the country, have been suspended, said railway operator Renfe.
The storm caused severe disruption or closed more than 650 roads until Saturday morning, according to Spanish transit authorities, who urged people to stay inside and avoid all non-essential travel.
The winter weather has even stopped the country’s football league, with some of the top teams in La Liga unable to travel for matches. Saturday’s match between the leader of the Spanish league Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao was postponed after the plane carrying Bilbao’s team on Friday could not land in the capital and had to return.
The regions of Castilla La Mancha and Madrid, with 8.6 million people, have announced that schools will be closed at least on Monday and Tuesday.
Despite the numerous branches and even the entire trees felled by the weight of the snow, the blizzard also gave surreal images that entertained many Madrileños, including some brave skiers and a man on a dog sled, who was seen on videos widely shared on social media. mediate.
Lucía Vallés, coach for a ski club in Madrid, who usually has to travel to the distant mountains with her clients, was delighted to see the white layers of snow that literally gather at her door.
“I never imagined this, it was a gift,” said the 23-year-old. “But not so many photos were taken of me,” she added as she passed the late 18th-century building that houses the Prado Museum.
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AP writer Joseph Wilson of Barcelona, Spain, contributed to the report.