Spain is bracing for another round of torrential rains after flooding prompted hom
e evacuations, washed away cars and killed at least three people this week in the southern region of Andalusia.
Authorities have issued warnings of more wind and showers coming to southe
rn areas near the coast on Thursday as the fourth storm to hit the country this mont
approaches. People are being told to avoid unnecessary trips and to stay away from waterways that could overflow. A
lerts are
also in place for the north of Spain and much of Portugal.
“A month’s worth of rain i
s likely to fall in a day or so,” said UK Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin.
The fierce wet weather came just months after the eastern region of Valencia was struck by a catastrophic downpour that cau
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sed over 200 deaths and billions in insurance losses. At the s
ame time, the heavy rains are easing Spain’s worst drought on record and helping fill reservoirs.
In just two weeks, three te
mpests have already brought 64% more rainfall than what’s typically recorded for the entire month of March, according to Aemet weat
her agency. Flooding closed roads, shuttered public events and forced residents to flee their homes.
Spain’s civil guard agents have found the body of a second person that w
ent missing as their car was overrun by water from a stream that overflowed
n the province of Seville. A third person died in the province of Cordoba, according to reports in local media.
Dozens of small roads in the regions of Andalusia, Murcia and Extremadura remained shut on Wednesday, Spain’s traffic authority
DGT said. Over 360 families that ha
d been evacuated in the southern province of Malaga were allowed to return home and schools reopened.
But while the weather was calm on Wednesday, Aemet meteorologists cautioned that conditions will likely worsen and lead to more
alerts in Extremadura and Andalusia when the next storm system, named Martinho, moves into those regions on Thursday.
The next round of storms is being driven by a change in the jet stream, which has di
pped south and is fueling a low-pressure region in the north Atlantic Ocean. More periods of heavy rain are expected, which could be especially intense along the northern coast of Portugal and areas near Madrid and southern Spain, according to a regional forecast briefing from the UK Met Office.
Alert systems and coordination between authorities that are essential during extreme weather emergencies were brought to question during the Valencia floods in November. Authorities’ immediate reaction to the rains at the time is under investigation.
Photograph: A resident stands in a street flooded in Cartama, near Malaga, Spain, on March 18, 2025. Photo credit: Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images
