MADRID (AP) – A persistent snowstorm has covered large parts of Spain with 50 years of record levels of snow, killing at least four people and leaving thousands in cars or at train stations and airports who have suspended all services as the snow continues to fall on Saturday.
The bodies of a man and a woman were recovered by the emergency service in the Andalusian region after their car was washed away by a flooded river near the city of Fuengirola. The Interior Ministry said a 54-year-old man was also found dead in Madrid under a large pile of snow. The local police department has killed a homeless man suffering from hypothermia in the northern city of Zaragoza.
More than half of Spain’s provinces remained vigilant on Saturday afternoon, five of them on their highest 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, calling on the military to rescue people from vehicles trapped on everything from small roads to the main roads in the city.
More than 50 centimeters of snow fell in the capital. At 07:00 on Saturday, the AEMET National Weather Agency recorded the highest 24-hour snowfall since 1971 in Madrid.
Sandra Morena, who was trapped late Friday when she commuted to her night shift as a security guard in a mall, arrived at the house on foot after an emergency unit from the army helped her Saturday morning.
“It usually takes me 15 minutes, but this time it froze for 12 hours, without food and water, and I cried with other people because we did not know how we would get there,” said Morena, 22.
“Snow can be very nice, but it’s not nice to be trapped in a car at night,” she added.
AEMET warned that some regions would experience more than 24 hours of continuous snowfall due to the strange combination of a cold mass of air stationary over the Iberian Peninsula and the arrival of the warmer Storm Filomena from the south.
The storm is expected to move northeast all Saturday, but is expected to be followed by a cold, the agency said.
Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos warned that “snow will turn to ice and that we may find ourselves in a situation that is perhaps more dangerous than we currently have.”
He added that it is most important to assist the needy, but also to ensure the supply chain of food and other basic goods.
“The storm surpassed the most pessimistic forecasts we have had,” Ábalos added.
Carlos Novillo, head of the Madrid emergency agency, said more than 1,000 vehicles were stuck, mostly on the city’s ring road and the main road leading from the capital to the south, in the direction of Castilla La Mancha and Andalusia.
‘The situation is still at great risk. This is a very complex phenomenon and a critical situation, “Novillo said in a message on social media on Saturday morning.
“We ask that everyone who remains trapped be patient, we will contact you,” he added.
The airport operator AENA said that Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas International Airport, the main gate in and out of the country, would remain closed all day after the blizzard machines and workers kept the snow away.
All trains to and from Madrid, commuter routes and long-distance passenger trains, as well as railways between the south and northeast of the country, have been suspended, Renfe said.
According to Spanish transport authorities, the storm caused serious disruptions on Saturday morning or closed a total of 650 roads, urging people to stay indoors and avoid all unnecessary travel.
The winter weather even halted the country’s soccer league, with some of the La Liga top teams unable to travel for matches. Saturday’s match between Spanish league leader Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao was postponed after the plane with Bilbao’s team was unable to land in the capital on Friday and had to turn around.
The regions of Castilla La Mancha and Madrid, where a total of 8.6 million people live, have announced that schools will be closed at least Monday and Tuesday.
Despite the numerous branches and even entire trees overturned by the weight of the snow, the blizzard also produced surrealistic images that entertained many Madrileños, including some brave skiers and a man on a dog sled seen on videos which is widely circulated on social media.
Lucía Vallés, a coach of a ski club in Madrid, who usually has to travel to distant mountains with her clients, was delighted to see the white layers of snow literally pile up in front of her door.
“I never imagined it, it was a gift,” the 23-year-old said. “But never before have so many photos been taken of me,” she adds as she glides past the late 18th-century building that houses the Prado Museum.
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AP author Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.