COVID-19: Army to help ensure vaccines reach health authorities in Spain after worst snowfall in decades
Four people have died in Spain's heaviest snowfall in decades.
Monday 11 January 2021 09:56, UK
Convoys containing food and the coronavirus vaccine are being sent by the Spanish government to reach areas cut off by record snowfall.
Army emergency brigades have focused on clearing access to Madrid's main fresh food distribution centre and to hospitals as COVID-19 infections rise across Spain.
Interior minister Fernando Grande-Markaska said the government will take extra steps to ensure that the country's weekly shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, arriving on Monday, can be distributed to regional health authorities via police-escorted convoys.
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Four people have died as a result of Storm Filomena, which has brought the heaviest snowfall in Spain for decades.
After recording 20 inches of snow in the Spanish capital between Friday night and Saturday, Madrid and a large swathe of the country remained impassable, with roads, rail lines and air travel disrupted by the storm.
A 54-year-old man was found dead under the flurries in Madrid.
Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said the capital has had its biggest snowfall since 1980.
Transport secretary Jose Luis Abalos said over the weekend that convoys would be used to transport food and vaccinations after 20,000km of road were revealed to have been affected by the snowfall in Spain.
Mr Abalos said crews had cleared two runways at Madrid's Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas International Airport and that departures had restarted on Sunday.
He said arrivals would slowly begin again sometime soon, weather permitting.
Trains traversing the capital gradually restarted on Sunday afternoon, but Mr Abalos said the important high-speed line linking Madrid with Barcelona remained out of operation.
More than 150 roads were still impassable on Sunday.
Authorities said all trips by car should be postponed and tyre chains were obligatory for journeys that could not be avoided.
They said all people trapped in their cars by the snow had been rescued but hundreds of cars needed to be recovered after being abandoned by drivers.
Storm Filomena has lost strength as it moved eastwards but authorities are still urging people to remain at home to limit the risk of falls on icy streets as a cold front moves in.
Mr Grande-Markaska said: "The danger is not over.
"A week of extreme cold is coming and that will transform all the snow on the ground into ice, thereby multiplying the risk. The storm is bringing with it a cold wave that could push temperatures down to record levels."
Spain's weather service forecasts temperatures to drop as low as minus 14C (6F) in the eastern province of Albacete by Tuesday.