In the Madrid area, the rescue team hit 1,500 people trapped in cars, while police stopped a major snowball battle after authorities asked citizens to stay home at risk of accidents or the spread of the coronavirus.
Meteorologists warned of dangerous conditions in the coming days, with the expectation that temperatures would drop below 14 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) next week and the prospect of snow turning to ice and damaged trees falling.
In Madrid, the police isolated buildings with heavy loads of snow on the roof in the event of accidents, but residents took to the streets en masse to enjoy the rare view of their city covered in white.
About 100 workers and shoppers spent two nights sleeping in a shopping mall in Majadahonda, a city north of Madrid, after being caught in the blizzard on Friday.
“There are people sleeping on the floor on cardboard,” Ivan Alcala, a restaurant employee, told TVE television.
Madrid’s international airport suspended flights until Sunday night.
About 20,000 kilometers of roads in central Spain were affected by the storm and the government would send trains carrying vaccine and food supplies to those in need, transport minister José Luis Abalos said on Saturday.
A man and a woman in a car drowned after a river broke out near Málaga in the south, while two homeless people died freezing in Madrid and Calatayud in the east, officials said.
The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) said that up to 20-30 cm (7-8 inches) of snow fell in Madrid on Saturday, the maximum since 1971.