Spain braces for more bad weather

Strengthening work to the banks of the Ebro [AFP]

Several days of bad weather have hit northern parts of Spain, and the country is bracing for more adverse conditions in the coming days.

Much of the northern and western coastal region is on a state of alert as a result of heavy rain and strong winds.

Around 28 provinces are under a ‘yellow’ alert while the northern provinces of Cantabria, La Coruna, Lugo, Pontevedra, Vizcaya, Gipuzkoa and Asturias are at the higher ‘orange’ alert.

The River Ebro, Spain’s longest, which rises in the Cantabrian Mountains and discharges into the Mediterranean, midway between Valencia and Barcelona, is at risk of overflowing.

Flood preventions structures have been strengthened and emergency authorities have plans for evacuations, should they become necessary.

The Ebro receives much of the meltwater from the south-facing part of the Pyrenees. A recent thaw has been huge quantities of meltwater flowing into the river after a period of heavy snowfall – up to two metres in places.

There are fears that the next area of low pressure moving in from the Atlantic could bring between 40 and 80 centimetres of snow to both the Cantabrian and Pyrenees Mountains.