Spain

Madrid Paralysed’ by Heavy Snow Storms as Roads shut and Madrid Airport forced to Suspend Operations

By Tony Winterburn • Published: 08 Jan 2021 • 22:22

Madrid’s Airport, Bus And Rail Services Remain Shut Down

Madrid Paralysed' by Heavy Snow Storms as Roads shut and Madrid Airport forced to Suspend Operations. image: Twitter feed

Madrid Paralysed’ by Heavy Snow Storms as Roads shut and Madrid Airport forced to Suspend Operations.

The very heavy snow fall that was forecast by AEMET, the Spanish meteorological service, has tonight struck Spain’s capital Madrid.

Storm Filomena has kept all of Spain, except Melilla, on alert for intense cold, wind, rain and snow. The storm is affecting some 406 roads throughout Spain, 42 of them on the main network, according to an update by the General Directorate of Traffic. In addition, the secondary road network, 41, is on the black level, that means it is impassable and more than 200 roads are on the red level, with heavy vehicles now obligated to wear snow chains.

Madrid-Barajas airport is now closed due to the weather, the Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, has announced. “We had never had a storm of this level,” he said in an interview on TVE. Aena has reported that operations have been paralysed until visibility improves and that runway cleaning work continues to recover operations “as soon as possible”. To guarantee the mobility of airport passengers, Metro rail on line 8 will remain open all night.

So far, up to 7:00 pm, there have been three flight diversions, one in Malaga, another in Córdoba and another in Tenerife North, and nine cancellations at Ceuta heliport.

In the capital, the M-30 ring road between the north junction and the Manoteras junction and the M-40 is cut into a small section. In this second route, snow chains are mandatory in the 60 kilometres of its journey.

The Community emergency service recommends not using private vehicles and reminds everyone of the obligation to use chains on their cars after ten at night. Also on the main network, the passage of traffic is completely interrupted in three kilometres in both directions of the CM-40 and another of the CM-42 as it passes through Toledo.

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