Fresh storms cause school closures and travel disruption in flood-hit Spain

Parts of Spain also on high alert evacuated thousands of residents and closed schools.

LAST UPDATE | 4 hrs ago

NEW STORMS IN Spain have caused school closures and train cancellations, two weeks after flash floods in the Valencia region killed more than 220 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

Coastal areas of Valencia were placed under the highest alert yesterday evening, with forecasters warning up to 180mm of rain could fall there within five hours.

Clean-up efforts in parts of Valencia hardest hit by the 29 October storm are continuing, and there are concerns over what more rain could bring to streets still covered with mud and debris.

In southern Malaga province, streets were flooded while 3,000 people near the Guadalhorce river were moved from their homes as a preventative measure.

Schools across the province were closed, along with many stores. Train services were cancelled between Malaga and Madrid, and between Barcelona and Valencia.

Valencia’s regional government also restricted the use of private vehicles until Thursday in areas hit by the October storm, when tsunami-like floods caused cars to be washed away.

There were no reports of deaths due to the new storms.

Spanish weather forecaster AEMET put Malaga on red alert, saying up to 70mm (3in) of rain had accumulated in an hour. Parts of Tarragona province in the east also faced heavy rain and remained under red alert.

The forecast in Malaga delayed the start of the Billie Jean King Cup tennis finals between Spain and Poland, which was set for Wednesday.

The storm system affecting Spain is caused by warm air that collides with stagnant cold air and forms powerful rain clouds. Experts say that drought and flood cycles are increasing with climate change.

Warnings

Yesterday officials warned sewage systems already clogged with mud could struggle to cope with a fresh storm.

Many people in the destroyed town of Paiporta had barricaded their homes with planks or sandbags to try to protect them from fresh flooding, an AFP journalist saw.

A highly anticipated session of the local parliament where under-fire regional leader Carlos Mazon was due to explain his handling of the disaster was postponed from today to tomorrow.

The 29 October catastrophe killed 223 people, almost all in the Valencia region, and caused enormous material damage expected to soar to tens of billions of euros.

With reporting from AFP