Village evacuated and waves destroy port as freak wind and rain sweeps the western half of Spain
Village evacuated and waves destroy port as freak wind and rain sweeps the western half of Spain
TIDAL waves of over 10 metres (32'6”) off the north coast of Spain have caused widespread destruction and torrential rain in the south has forced emergency services to evacuate an entire village.
Some 30 metres (97'6”) of the pier off the port in Cudillero, some 40 kilometres west of Oviedo (Asturias) have been ripped up and washed away, flooding the yacht marina.
Waves reached over the breakwater into the road along the seafront, forcing emergency services to cordon off the area to prevent members of the public from trying to get a closer look and putting their lives at risk.
Gale-force winds of over 110 kilometres per hour (66mph) and waves of nine metres (29'3”) in height have swept the coast of the province of A Coruña, in the north-western region of Galicia and pedestrians and cars have been banned from the seafront road.
Further down the coast in the province of Lugo, the A Pedra de Burela lighthouse was literally snapped in two by freak waves, and the remains of it have been likened to the Leaning Tower of Pisa due to its precarious position.
Ports have been closed off all along the Basque Country's coastal provinces, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa whilst rivers have burst their banks in Asturias and the Basque Country, flooding roads and homes.
Catalunya has also suffered flooding, tidal waves, avalanches and snowdrifts.
In total, 40 provinces in 15 of Spain's 17 regions are under weather warnings for extremely turbulent conditions, including the Canaries and Balearics and the west of Andalucía, the country's southernmost mainland region.
A total of 28 people – the only occupants at the time - had to be evacuated from the small village of Santiago Pontones in the Cazorla Segura and Las Villas nature reserves in the province of Jáen after a river burst its banks.
And in the village of Mogón, also in Jáen and close to the larger town of Villacarrillo, the river Aguascebas – a branch of the larger Guadalquivir - burst its banks and garages were flooded out.
Other than Catalunya in the north, the east and south-east coasts have largely escaped the freak weather conditions, but the knock-on effect of high winds means the chill factor is lower than the air temperatures in these areas.
Moderate to gale-force winds have also caused isolate forest fires in parts of the Valencia region.
The wind, rain and high tides are not expected to settle down until Thursday, when spring is due to arrive early, according to the State meteorological agency, AEMET.
