Spain and Portugal have been swept by a flurry of winter storms, with the latest bout of torrential rain and flooding killing at least one person.
The Iberian Peninsula has been hit by a spate of storms, with the latest one, Storm Leonardo, lashing the region with over 15 inches of rain within 24 hours.
Some areas are expected to see up to 23 inches of rain, an exceptional amount for this time of February, according to the Met Office.
A man in his 60s was confirmed dead in Portugal after floodwater trapped his car, while a girl is missing in Malaga, southern Spain, after trying to rescue her dog from a swollen river.
Rescuers tried to find the girl who was swept away by the Turvilla river.
Malaga’s fire chief, Manuel Marmolejo, said: ‘We spent the whole afternoon and night yesterday searching in the river from the place where the girl fell in until the very end of the river. We found the dog, but not her.’
Andalusia, on Spain’s southern coast, is among the worst-hit areas, with power outages and travel disruptions adding to the plight of more than 3,000 people forced to evacuate.
The region was placed under a rare red alert after torrential rain, flooding and risk of landslides, and thousands of soldiers were called in to help with the evacuations.
Most train services have been paralysed in Andalusia for the second day, including medium distance and high-speed trains, and schools have been shut in most of Andalusia’s provinces.
Portugal was already reeling from the devastation of Storm Kristin last week when Leonardo hit. At least six people were killed in the country last week in the wake of Storm Kristin.
And the weather has more in store, with another rough weather front – Storm Marta – set to land over the weekend.
The ongoing devastation has triggered memories of the 2024 floods in Spain, which wreaked havoc in Valencia, Albacete and Malaga in particular.
The Met Office said the Valencia flooding was caused by intense downpours, while the current event is driven by widespread and prolonged rainfall.
Will Storm Leonardo affect the UK?
While the worst of Storm Leonardo will be contained in the Iberial Peninsula, there is a link between it and the wet weather front in the UK.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for rain and snow, in place across England, Wale and Northern Ireland ahead of the weekend.
The continous rain and snow, marking a wet January across the UK and Europe, has been caused by an unusually strong, southerly jet stream, the forceaster said.
The jet stream has pushed low-pressure fronts north-eastwards into the British Isles like ‘a conveyor belt,’ bringing with it rain, strong winds and wintry risks like snow.
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