Spain and Portugal endured fresh storms and torrential rain that claimed another life Saturday, just days after the deadly flooding and major damage caused by Storm Leonardo.
In Portugal, the latest depression — christened Storm Marta — led to the deployment of more than 26,500 rescue workers.
It was a 46-year-old volunteer member of the emergency services who died Saturday trying to cross a flooded zone, according to local media reports — the first victim of Storm Marta.
The extreme weather also led three municipalities to postpone by a week a presidential vote meant to be held on Sunday.
Storm Kristin killed five people when it swept across Portugal last week, and Storm Leonardo claimed another victim on Wednesday.
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.
Both Spain and Portugal have issued fresh flood alerts. The storms have already blocked hundreds of roads, disrupted trains and forced thousands to evacuate from the rising waters.
– Thousands evacuated –
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 and violent storms.
“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.
The farming sector had been badly hit and it would cost over 500 million euros ($590 million) to repair roads, he added.
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.
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.
– Deadly series of storms –
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro meanwhile said 2026 had been a “particularly unusual year” with “exceptionally violent” climatic conditions.
Several landslides were reported in Portugal but there were no casualties, authorities said.
The risk of flooding from the Tagus river in the country’s central Santarem region remained at its highest level, the authorities said.
Further south, in Alcacer do Sal, the waters of the Sado river had receded to the banks, they added.
According to meteorologists, Storm Marta was expected to move north and start pulling away from Portugal by the end of the day, on the eve of the second round of the presidential election.
Portugal was still recovering from the effects of Storm Kristin, which killed five people, injured hundreds of others and left tens of thousands without power, when Leonardo hit earlier this week.
One person died during the passage of Storm Leonardo earlier this week and 1,100 people were evacuated across the country, according to the authorities.
A succession of atmospheric depressions saw Portugal’s dams release “a volume of water equivalent to the country’s annual consumption” in just three days, Jose Pimenta Machado, president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), said Friday.
Several hundred kilometres further south, Morocco has also been hit by a series of violent storms that have displaced 150,000 people in the northwest of the country in recent days.
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