MADRID (Reuters) – Four people were killed in Spain when Hurricane Filomena caused travel chaos across the country, covering Madrid with the heaviest snowfall in decades and forcing authorities to mobilize troops to rescue trapped motorists.
Rescue services reached 1,500 people trapped in cars, while skiers glided down Gran Via, usually one of the busiest streets in the capital. Other Madrilenians used the snowstorm to surf the snow on the road or peel each other with snowballs.
A man and a woman traveling in a car drowned after a river erupted on the outskirts of Malaga in southern Spain, and two homeless people died frozen, one in Madrid and the other in the city. eastern Calatayud, authorities reported.
In response to the facts, King Philip VI and Queen Letizia tweeted: “The royal family wants to express their grief for the victims of the storm … and call for extreme caution against the risks of ice and snow accumulation “.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, urged the Spaniards to avoid all travel except the essentials. “We are facing the most intense storm in the last 50 years,” he said.
More than 650 roads were blocked by snow, Grande-Marlaska said, leaving some drivers trapped in their cars from Friday night through Saturday.
Patricia Manzanares, trapped in her car on the M-40 motorway in Madrid since 7pm on Friday, told RTVE television: “I have been trapped here without water or any other help.”
Aena, which controls the country’s airports, said Madrid’s Barajas airport, which was closed on Friday night, would remain closed the rest of Saturday. He 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 heaviest snowfall in Madrid since 1971, while José Miguel Viñas, a meteorologist for Spanish National Radio, said it had fallen between 25 and 50 cm (10-20 inches). in the capital, which he said made it the heaviest snowfall since 1963.
Atletico Madrid’s match against Athletic Bilbao, which would start on Saturday at 15:15 GMT, has been postponed, the League said in a statement.
Report by Graham Keeley; Edited by Frances Kerry and David Holmes