PILAR DE LA HORADADA/ORIHUELA -
Four people have been killed and over 1,500 evacuated in two
days of torrential rains in southeastern Spain, with many roads,
train networks and an airport closed on Friday and emergency
services rescuing people stuck in flooded highway tunnels.
Floods swept away cars and debris in the regions of
Valencia, Murcia and eastern Andalucia. Motorway tunnels in some
areas were flooded almost up to the tunnel lighting, with some
vehicles partly or fully submerged.
A man was found dead in Granada province on Friday after his
car was swept off a motorway and another died in Almeria after
trying to drive through a flooded tunnel, rescue services said.
Two siblings died on Thursday when torrential rain dragged their
car away.
A total of 74 roads were closed, as was the whole Murcia
regional railway service, and the Murcia airport. The railway
link between Alicante and Spain's two main cities - Madrid and
Barcelona - was shut, acting Interior Minister Fernando Grande
Marlaska said.
Some affected areas saw record daily rainfall for the month
of September.
"The situation is critical, all the municipality is full of
water," Mario Cervera, mayor of the town of Alcazares, one of
the most affected in Murcia, told Spain's state-run TVE channel.
Rescue workers were using a helicopter and boats in various
areas, he said.
"This man was holding onto a traffic sign... the officer and
I jumped to take him out," one emergency worker told Reuters.
In addition to people already evacuated, some 2,000
residents of the town of Santomera in Murcia were being removed
from their homes due to a planned controlled release from a
local dam to avoid its overflowing, the interior minister said.
"The forecasts do not point to a worsening of the situation,
but we have to be cautious," he told reporters after a weekly
cabinet meeting before heading to the affected areas.
The rain appeared to be easing but rivers were still at risk
of overflowing, including the Segura, which has already flooded
the town of Orihuela in Alicante and could flood in the city of
Murcia, the local water management authority said.
Authorities have recommended citizens stay at home in the
affected areas and avoid using their cars.
Tourists were left stranded in Alicante airport as many
flights were delayed or cancelled.
"We've been in the queue here four or five hours, it's very
difficult to get to the toilet, impossible to get anything to
eat," Haydn Harding, a 78-year old diabetic tourist from
Northern Ireland, said at the airport.