Spain endured fresh storms and torrential rain on Saturday, just days after the flooding and damage caused by Storm Leonardo.
Both Spain and neighbouring Portugal, which has also been badly affected, issued fresh flood alerts on Saturday. The storms have already blocked hundreds of roads, disrupted trains and forced thousands to evacuate from the rising waters.
In Spain, much of the country’s south, particularly the region of Andalusia, was placed on orange alert on Saturday, as was the north-west, which was facing heavy rain amid the latest depression – Storm Marta.
Many of the alerts were moved to yellow on Sunday, with the warnings confined to the south-east and pockets of central and north-western Spain, the latest forecasts from national weather service Aemet showed. There are currently no orange alerts for the beginning of the week.
Aemet’s forecast for Sunday. Image: Aemet
“We have never seen such a series of storms,” said Andalusia’s regional president, Juan Manuel Moreno, describing the situation as “complex” with dozens of roads cut off, rail traffic largely suspended, and “more than 11,000 people” evacuated.
READ ALSO: One missing as heavy rain keeps Andalusia flooded and most of Spain on alert
This includes 7,707 in Cádiz, 1,500 in Córdoba, 687 in Jaén, 586 in Málaga, 400 in Granada, and 209 in Seville with six municipalities cut off, and 206 roads affected, mostly in Cádiz, according to data from the Andalusian Regional Government.
The farming sector had been badly hit and it would cost over 500 million euros ($590 million) to repair roads, he added.
Cordoba bridge closed
The famous pedestrian-only Roman bridge across the Guadalquivir river in Cordoba was blocked off for safety reasons.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez held a crisis meeting on Saturday, a day after visiting flood-affected areas.
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Evacuated from Grazalema, one of the hardest-hit municipalities in Andalusia, residents were taken in at a gymnasium in the city of Ronda.
“Yesterday, I was told this would last a long time,” said Jesus Ramirez, a 37-year-old resident. “It won’t be a week or two — it could be longer.”
“There are a lot of children who are suffering,” added Nieves de los Santos, a 67-year-old pensioner.
Sevilla Football Club announced that its home match against Girona, scheduled for Saturday evening, had been postponed by the authorities to ensure spectator safety.
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The Iberian Peninsula is on the front lines of climate change in Europe. It has been experiencing increasingly prolonged heat waves and more frequent, intense episodes of heavy rainfall for several years.
