MADRID (Reuters) – Four people were killed in Spain when Storm Filomena caused travel chaos across the country, covering Madrid in the worst snowfall in decades and forcing the authorities to mobilize troops to rescue trapped motorists.
Rescue services reach 1,500 people trapped in cars while skiers glide down Gran Via, usually one of the busiest streets in the capital. Other residents of Madrid used the strange snowstorm to snow on the road or pelt each other with snowballs.
A man and woman traveling in a car drowned after a river burst its banks near Malaga, southern Spain, freezing two homeless people, one in Madrid and the other in the eastern city of Calatayud, the authorities said.
In response to the events, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia tweeted: “The royal family wants to express their grief over the victims of the storm … and calls for extreme caution against the risks of ice and snow.”
Home Secretary Fernando Grande-Marlaska urged Spaniards to avoid travel needs. “We are facing the worst storm in the last 50 years,” he said.
More than 650 roads were blocked by snow, Grande-Marlaska said. Some drivers left in their cars from Friday night to Saturday.
Patricia Manzanares, who had been trapped in her car on the M-40 motorway in Madrid since 19:00 on Friday, told RTVE television: “I got stuck here without water or any other help”.
Aena, who controls the country’s airports, said Madrid’s Barajas airport, which was closed on Friday night, would remain closed for the rest of Saturday. At least 50 flights to Madrid, Malaga, Tenerife and Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa, are said to have been canceled.
According to the State Meteorological Agency, this is the largest snowfall in Madrid since 1971, while José Miguel Viñas, a meteorologist from Spanish National Radio, said there was a drop of between 25 cm and 50 cm (10-20 inches) in the capital. has, which according to him said. it made the biggest snowfall since 1963.
Atletico Madrid’s match against Athletic Bilbao, which was scheduled to start at 1515 GMT on Saturday, has been postponed, La Liga said in a statement.
Reporting by Graham Keeley; Edited by Frances Kerry and David Holmes