A persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with 50-year record levels of snow, halting traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or train stations and airports.
In Madrid, authorities activated a red alert for the first time since the system was adopted four decades ago and called in the military to rescue people from vehicles trapped on everything from small roads to the city’s main thoroughfares.
Spain’s military was deployed on Saturday to help dozens of drivers stuck on motorways outside Madrid after record snowfall through the night.
The Military Emergencies Unit freed trapped cars, vans and trucks, allowing snowploughs to try to clear the roads.
On Friday, Madrid experienced its heaviest snowfall since 1971 after what the AEMET weather agency described as “exceptional and most likely historic” conditions caused by Storm Filomena.
The bodies of a man and woman were recovered by the Andalusia region emergency service after their car was washed away by a flooded river near the town of Fuengirola.
The interior ministry said a 54-year-old man was also found dead in Madrid under a big pile of snow. A homeless man died of hypothermia in the northern city of Zaragoza, the local police department reported.
Rescue services have reached 1,500 people trapped in cars, but there may still be others.
Skiers glided down Gran Via, normally one of the busiest streets in the capital city of Madrid, while other residents took advantage of the freak blizzard to snowboard down the road.A man and woman who were travelling in a car drowned after a river burst its banks near the city of Malaga, in southern Spain, and a homeless person froze to death in the eastern city of Calatayud, authorities said.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska urged Spaniards to avoid all but essential travel.
The State Meteorological Agency said it was the heaviest snowfall in Madrid since 1971.
More than 650 roads were blocked by snow, leaving some drivers stuck in their cars overnight.
Spanish resident Patricia Manzanares was trapped in her car on the M-40 motorway in Madrid since 7:00pm on Friday local time.
"I have been stuck here without water or any other help", she told local television RTVE.Schools and universities are closed until Wednesday, Madrid regional authorities said.
At least 50 flights to Madrid, Malaga, Tenerife and Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa, were cancelled.
Atletico Madrid's game against Athletic Bilbao which was scheduled for Saturday was postponed, La Liga said in a statement.
Madrid and four other regions are on red alert as more heavy snowfalls are predicted, according to the State Meteorological Agency.
