One dead, a girl missing as Storm Leonardo batters Portugal and Spain
MADRID, Feb 5 (Reuters) – A man died in Portugal after floodwaters engulfed his car, and in Spain a girl was swept away by a river after trying to save her dog as Storm Leonardo battered the Iberian peninsula with heavy rains and strong winds on Thursday.
Leonardo is the latest in a wave of half a dozen winter storms that have ravaged Portugal and Spain this year, killing many people, ripping roofs off homes and flooding towns.
A man aged about 70 died when his car was swept away on a flooded road near a dam in Portugal’s southern Alentejo region on Wednesday, Portuguese authorities said.
In the southern Spanish province of Malaga, a girl went missing after being dragged down the Turvilla river while trying to save her dog.
“We spent all afternoon and night yesterday searching the river from where the girl fell to the end of the river. We found the dog, but we couldn’t find her,” Malaga fire chief Manuel Marmolejo said on Spanish television. he said.
Storm Marta, the next weather front dubbed the “storm train,” is expected to hit the region over the weekend, according to state weather agency Aemet.
The cost of rebuilding in Portugal alone after last week’s Storm Kristin could exceed 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion), Economy Minister Manuel Castro Almeida said.
People walked up to their waists in Alcacer do Sal in southern Portugal after successive storms caused the Sado River to burst its banks. The restaurant terraces were completely under water; Sandbags were stacked in front of the doors to protect homes and shops.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s surreal,” local resident Maria Cadacha said. “There are a lot of people here, very good people, a lot of tradesmen, damaged houses. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.”
In X they said Andalusia’s emergency services had dealt with more than a million incidents by midnight Wednesday.
14 rivers and 10 dams were at “extreme” risk of flooding, according to Antonio Sanz, head of the regional government’s internal affairs department.
Portugal’s National Civil Protection said at least 70 cases had been recorded as of Thursday.
(Reporting by Paolo Laudani; editing by Charlie Devereux, Alexandra Hudson)
