The Spanish capital covered by a blanket of snow: the event was unprecedented for half a century.
In Madrid, residents took out their skis on Saturday, January 9, as in the famous Puerta del Sol square, while the images of a man driving a sled pulled by five dogs have delighted social networks.
The Puerta de Alcalá.
Imágenes que parecen de otra época.
Cuidado con árboles, aceras y cornisas.
#NieveenMadrid #Nieve #Filomena pic.twitter.com/czPlv9bfJl
- Euprepio Padula (@EuprepioPadula) January 9, 2021
Due to this historic snowfall, the heaviest since 1971 in Spain, five regions in the center of the country, including Madrid, were placed on red alert on Saturday morning.
In the capital, "the situation is extremely serious," warned its mayor, José Luis Martinez-Almeida, on Twitter, calling on residents not to leave their homes as the flurry-laden squalls continued to spread. descend on the city without stopping since Friday evening.
Parks are closed there, public buses suspended as well as garbage collection.
Madrid-Barajas International Airport, closed since Friday evening, will keep its doors closed on Saturday for "security reasons" while around thirty flights have already been canceled on Friday and almost as many have had to land elsewhere.
Airport
Madrid Barajas Airport will remain closed all day Saturday due to the snow storm.
✈️🇪🇸
Given the intensity of the snow and the forecast for the next few hours, the airport managers decided to keep the platform closed. # Avegeeks pic.twitter.com/18Yay4amCQ
- Gate 7 (@ Gate7tweet) January 9, 2021
Arriving at the airport on Friday at 5 p.m., Covadonga Solares, 24, told AFP that he boarded his plane and stayed there "3 hours 30 without information" while waiting for the runway to be cleared of snow.
The young woman and all the other passengers on the flight were eventually brought back inside the airport, where they slept "on the conveyor belts and counters" of the terminal.
The plane carrying the players of the Basque team from Bilbao was unable to land in the capital and the Spanish football championship match against Atletico Madrid against Bilbao has been postponed indefinitely.
The Spain-Croatia handball match, scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. in Madrid, has also been canceled, the Spanish federation said.
Several severely affected regions
"Let's avoid travel and follow the indications of the emergency services. Let us be extremely vigilant in the face of storm Filomena", for his part tweeted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, praising the work of "professionals who are trying to come in help people trapped by snow ".
"Faced with the situation caused by the Filomena squall", all trains arriving or leaving Madrid have been canceled, said the national railway company Renfe, while at least two metro lines saw part of their traffic interrupted in the capital.
Madrid Barajas Airport will remain closed all day Saturday due to the snow storm.
✈️🇪🇸
Given the intensity of the snow and the forecast for the next few hours, the airport managers decided to keep the platform closed. # Avegeeks pic.twitter.com/18Yay4amCQ
- Gate 7 (@ Gate7tweet) January 9, 2021
Emergency services in the Madrid region said they had "worked through the night to help" stranded motorists and "freed 1,000 vehicles", asking others to "remain patient".
Besides Madrid, Aragon, the region of Valencia and that of Castile-La Mancha and Catalonia were the areas most affected by this storm due to an interaction between a very humid and relatively mild air flow coming from the south- is and a mass of very cold air.
In total, 36 of Spain's 50 provinces are affected by snow warnings.
Catalonia has banned the movement of heavy goods vehicles, as has Castile-La Mancha, which has further indicated that 1,300 trucks are currently stationed in several areas of the region.
With AFP
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