MADRID (AP) – A persistent blizzard covered large parts of Spain with record 50-year snow levels, killing at least four people and leaving thousands stranded in cars or at train stations and airports that suspended all services while snow continued to fall. on Saturday.
The bodies of a man and a woman were recovered by the Andalusian emergency service after their car was taken by the current of 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. A homeless man died of hypothermia in the northern city of Zaragoza, local police said.
More than half of Spain’s provinces remained on alert on Saturday afternoon, five of them at their highest alert level, for the storm Filomena. In the capital, authorities activated the red alert for the first time since the system was adopted four decades ago and called on the military to rescue people in vehicles trapped in everything from small roads to the city’s main thoroughfares.
More than 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow fell in the capital. At 7 am on Saturday, the national weather agency AEMET recorded the biggest snowfall in 24 hours since 1971 in Madrid.
Sandra Morena, who was trapped on Friday night while traveling for the night shift as a security guard at a shopping mall, arrived home on foot after an army emergency unit helped her out on Saturday morning .
“I usually take 15 minutes, but this time it’s been 12 hours freezing, without food or water, crying with other people because we didn’t know how we would get out of there,” said Morena, 22.
“Snow can be very beautiful, but spending the night stuck in a car because of that is not fun,” she added.
AEMET 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 hottest Filomena storm in the south.
The storm is expected to move northeast during Saturday, but it should be followed by a cold snap, the agency said.
The Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, warned that “the snow will turn to ice and we will enter a situation perhaps more dangerous than the one we have at the moment”.
He added that the priority is to serve the needy, but also to guarantee the supply chain for food and other basic goods.
“The storm exceeded the most pessimistic forecasts we had,” added Ábalos.
Carlos Novillo, head of the Madrid emergency agency, said more than 1,000 vehicles were stuck, mainly on the city’s ring road and on the main highway that connects the capital to the south, towards the regions of Castilla La Mancha and Andalusia.
“The situation remains at high risk. This is a very complex phenomenon and a critical situation, ”said Novillo on Saturday morning in a message posted on social media.
“We ask all those who remain in prison to be patient, we will reach you,” he added.
Airport operator AENA said Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas International Airport, the country’s main entry and exit door, will remain closed throughout the day after the blizzard has defeated machines and workers trying to keep the runways free of snow.
All trains entering and leaving Madrid, both urban routes and long-distance passenger trains, as well as rail lines between the south and northeast of the country, have been suspended, said railway operator Renfe.
The storm caused serious disturbances or closed more than 650 roads on Saturday morning, according to Spanish traffic authorities, who asked people to stay home and avoid non-essential travel.
The wintry climate even paralyzed the country’s football championship, with some of the top La Liga teams unable to travel to the games. Saturday’s match between Spanish league leader Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao was postponed after the plane carrying the Bilbao team on Friday failed to land in the capital and had to turn around.
The regions of Castilla La Mancha and Madrid, where 8.6 million people live, announced that schools would close at least on Monday and Tuesday.
Despite the numerous branches and even whole trees felled by the weight of the snow, the blizzard also yielded surreal images that amused many Madriders, including some brave skiers and a man on a dog sled that was seen in videos widely publicized on social media.
Lucía Vallés, a coach at a Madrid-based ski club who usually has to travel to distant mountains with her clients, was thrilled to see the white layers of snow literally building up on her doorstep.
“I never imagined this, it was a gift,” said the 23-year-old. “But I never took so many photos of me,” she added as she glided through the late 18th century building that houses the Prado Museum.
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AP writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain contributed to this report.