MADRID (Reuters) – Four people died in Spain when the storm Filomena caused travel chaos across the country, covering Madrid with the greatest blizzard in decades and forcing authorities to mobilize troops to rescue trapped drivers.
Rescue services reached 1,500 people trapped in cars, while skiers glided down the Gran Via, usually one of the capital’s busiest streets. Other Madrid residents used the abnormal blizzard to snowboard the road or throw snowballs at each other.
A man and woman traveling in a car drowned after a river broke through its banks near Malaga, in southern Spain, and two homeless people died frozen, one in Madrid and the other in the city of Calatayud, officials said.
In response to the events, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia tweeted: “The royal family would like to express their sadness for the victims of the storm … and ask for extreme caution against the risks of accumulation of ice and snow”.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska asked Spaniards to avoid everything except essential travel. “We are facing the most intense storm in the past 50 years,” he said.
More than 650 roads were blocked by snow, Grande-Marlaska said, leaving some drivers stuck in their cars from Friday night until Saturday.
Patricia Manzanares, stuck in her car on the M-40 highway in Madrid since 7pm on Friday, told RTVE television: “I was stuck here without water or any other help”.
Aena, which controls the country’s airports, said Madrid’s Barajas airport, which closed on Friday night, would remain closed for the rest of Saturday. The agency said at least 50 flights to Madrid, Malaga, Tenerife and Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa, were canceled.
The State Meteorological Agency said it was the biggest blizzard in Madrid since 1971, while José Miguel Viñas, a meteorologist with Spanish National Radio, said it fell between 25 cm and 50 cm (10-20 inches) in the capital, according to which he became the biggest blizzard since 1963.
Atlético de Madrid’s game against Athletic Bilbao, scheduled to start at 15:15 GMT on Saturday, has been postponed, La Liga said in a statement.
Graham Keeley reporting; Editing by Frances Kerry and David Holmes