Cold snap looks set to bring more misery to Spain

2 March 2005

MADRID The cold snap that has caused travel chaos across Spain is to return on Thursday.

The National Meteorological Institute said the new cold front will hit the north of Spain from the morning.

Heavy snows and icy weather have closed dozens of roads, left hundreds of motorists stranded, caused scores of flights to be cancelled and left Spain struggling to cope all week.

Forecasters said that 15 main roads in the mountain still remained shut on Wednesday.

Across the country, at least 73,000 children have been unable to attend school and more than 20 flights were cancelled.

Power cuts caused by the icy conditions, have left thousands without electricity and water supplies as pipes have frozen up in many areas.

The General Civil and Protection Authority, which deals with bad weather conditions, said conditions had improved in general, with only six areas on an ‘alert’ to deal with the problems caused by the heavy snows and sub-zero temperatures.

These were Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia, Murcia, Andalucía and Spain’s north African enclave, Melilla.

The lowest overnight temperatures were recorded in Navarre in the Basque Country where they dipped to minus 24 Celsius.

In Asturias, in northern Spain, 504 people in remote areas where still cut off on Wednesday.

And in one of the worst situations, 2,000 people were stuck on the main A 92 and A 44 roads between Granada and Jaen overnight.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news