Authorities on Thursday lifted a high-level storm alert in Andalusia that left up 600 litres of rainfall per square metre, though wind and storm warnings remain in place in parts and across the wider country.
Storm Leonardo has flooded swathes of Andalusia, causing evacuations across the southern region and leaving the rest of Spain on weather alert.
The seventh major storm to hit the Iberian peninsula this year left more than 40 centimetres (15 inches) of rain in some districts. In Cádiz province, the storm dropped nearly 600 litres per square metre in 24 hours on the town of Grazalema.
The highest level storm alert, however, has on Thursday been lifted in Andalusia but orange wind warnings remain in Almería, Córdoba, Granada and Jaén.
Yellow-level rain warnings remain active in Cádiz, Jaén and Málaga, where significant damage was caused by the downpours, such as at Chipiona beach in Cádiz.
In the rest of the region, yellow warnings predominate, with special attention to the strong waves along the Andalusian coast.
Flooding caused by storm Leonarda has forced around 3,500 people to be evacuated across the southern region, where more than 650 incidents were recorded, none of them causing serious damage.
One person was injured in a building collapse, local media reports suggest, and a search is underway for a woman missing in Sayalonga, Málaga province, after she fell into the Turvilla River.
In neighbouring Extremadura, regional authorities sent out a mass Es-Alert message asking the residents in the districts of Jerez de los Caballeros (Badajoz), La Bazana and Valuengo to evacuate their homes “due to the possibility of significant flooding of the Ardila River caused by the overflowing of the Valuengo Dam”.
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Meanwhile, the rising waters of the Aguas Blancas river have forced the evacuation of 120 residents of Dúdar (Granada), following an increase in flow and the release of water from the Quéntar reservoir, located less than 10 kilometres from the town.
The Andalusian regional government has announced the return to face-to-face classes in most of Andalusia starting this Thursday, however, with exceptions in certain regions and municipalities.
Schools are generally reopening, though the suspension of face-to-face teaching activities continues in Almería province. Huelva is the only province where all centres will reopen today.
In the rest, school closures are controlled on a local level.
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The forecast across the rest of Spain
Despite the lifting of Spain’s top level storm alert, Leonardo will cause gale force winds across Spain on Thursday, with gusts exceeding 90-100 km/h in mountainous areas in the southern half of the country and on exposed coastlines in Alborán, according to information released on Wednesday by the country’s state weather agency, Aemet.
Aemet has activated alerts in the city of Ceuta and 13 regions, with gusts generally ranging from 70 km/h-100 km/h. Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha are on orange alert, while Aragón, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid, Murcia, Navarre, La Rioja and the Valencian Community are on yellow alert.
The storm will begin to weaken from Friday. However, Aemet forecasts suggest that on Saturday the arrival of a new Atlantic storm is expected, which will lead to further weather instability.
