The three missing persons found dead due to heavy rains in the south of the Peninsula
The body of a man who was traveling in a vehicle during the downpours was found.
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BarcelonaSince early this morning, rescue teams continued the search for two people who were still missing and were finally found dead after the torrential downpours that hit the southern Peninsula. In the Guadalbarcar stream, in the town of Constantina, they found the lifeless body of a man, who they confirmed was the husband of the woman found dead in the same area on Tuesday afternoon. The couple, in their seventies, were inside an all-terrain vehicle crossing the stream when the sudden rise in water surprised them.
Also near Córdoba, the body of a missing 71-year-old cyclist was found. Emergency services located his body at the edge of the river in the town of Dos Torres. In addition, 400 homes have been evacuated in Málaga (those affected have already returned home) due to the heavy rains affecting Andalusia, where it has been pouring rain since the beginning of March.
The situation has been caused by the storm affecting this Andalusian region—the so-called "borrasca" (storm). Laurence—and has already flooded streams and creeks. There are also incidents on various Andalusian roads that have been blocked by water and mud. The storm has left many rivers and reservoirs in the Guadalquivir River Basin at their limits, and since Monday, for example, the AP-4 has been closed from Dos Hermanas to Las Cabezas de San Juan, in both directions. Numerous secondary roads and train tracks in Utrera are also closed due to accumulated water, affecting traffic between Seville and Cádiz.
The storm has also had a strong impact on Murcia, where the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has declared a yellow alert. In fact, weather forecasts predict the storm is moving specifically toward that area and also toward the Valencian Community. The President of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juanma Moreno, asked the population to exercise "great caution" on Tuesday. Seville has already closed the floodgates of the defense wall to protect itself from the rising river. Seville City Council activated the Emergency Phase (Level 1) early this afternoon due to the risk of the Guadalquivir rising, while civil protection ordered the evacuation of parking lots in areas near the riverbed due to the potential overflow of the basin, which has already occurred in certain parts of the city.
Rescue in Águilas and an Imserso bus accident
In Murcia, emergency teams have already had to rescue nine people trapped in their vehicles due to the rain on the Calarreona road in Águilas. A helicopter was even needed to get the people out of their cars. Since 10 a.m., when the rain began in Murcia, the local emergency coordination center has responded to 65 incidents in Águilas, mostly due to minor flooding after the city center was flooded.
Aside from the problems in Águilas, several people were injured, some seriously, in the accident involving an Imserso bus that overturned on the A-7 highway, also in Murcia. The incident occurred when they were traveling towards Alicante, near the Cabezo de Torres exit.
A storm accompanied by tornadoes
The effects of the storm Laurence The rains are felt throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and Andalusia has been one of the hardest hit areas so far. It has rained heavily, especially between Monday and early Tuesday. In some cases, there have been downpours, producing many liters of rain in just a few hours, especially in provinces such as Seville, Malaga, Huelva, and Córdoba. The most notable records have approached or exceeded 100 l/m² accumulated in just 24 hours. The storm has been accompanied by some extreme weather events, such as tornadoes.
The rain will gradually leave Andalusia this Tuesday and move towards the east of the Iberian Peninsula: it will fully affect Murcia, the Valencian Community during the Fallas festival, and later Catalonia. On Wednesday, there will be a lull with plenty of sunshine and calm in Andalusia, but starting early Thursday morning, another front of locally intense rain will move through the west of the region and will eventually sweep across the entire territory throughout Thursday. These will be the effects of a new storm called Martinho, which will also be noticeable in our house on Friday.