Laurence Dollimore
STRONG winds of up to 150km/hr have caused chaos across Spain with cancelled flights, multiple injuries and damaged buildings.
Hundreds of incidents were recorded across the country on Wednesday as Storm Nelson let its presence be known from Andalucia to Galicia and across the Balearic and Canary islands.
An Atlantic front brought the worst conditions to Castilla y Leon (480 emergency reports), Galicia (160 reports), Andalucia (170) and Madrid (100).
The stormy conditions will continue today, with at least 15 provinces still on alert for rain, snow and strong gusts of wind.
It comes after at least two people were injured in Zamora and Valladolid yesterday. In the former, a 72-year-old man was hospitalised after being hit by a flying brick in the head.
In Valladolid, a 69-year-old man was hit in the arm by a flying parasol being carried by the winds. He was also hospitalised. Luckily neither of the men’s injuries were life threatening.
Galicia has also seen carnage, with almost two dozen roads littered with material and objects, causing traffic chaos and roads to be cut off.
In Santiago, a driver who was traveling on the DP-0701 reported to 112 that a tree had fallen on his car, causing damage to the vehicle. The owner was unharmed. At around 5.30pm, a tree fell on two cars that were parked in the Carreira area, in Cans, in O Porriño.
In Andalucia there were at least 170 calls to emergency services due to strong winds, particularly in Sevilla, and a tree branch fell on a car.
In Almeria there are up to 25 warnings for landslides, after the partial collapse of a sports pavilion in Vera, fortunately with no injuries.
A 32-year-old woman was forced to seek hospital treatment in Cordoba after an object fell onto her foot.
Further north in Bilbao, where the wind reached 140km/hr, several flights from the city’s airport were cancelled.
Meanwhile, one flight from Barcelona had to return to the Catalan capital, while another from London was diverted there also.
A flight from Munich was diverted to Bordeaux in France, another from Tenerife to Barcelona and one from Eindhoven to Zaragoza.
Elsewhere, a wall surrounding the El Plantio stadium in Burgos collapsed due to the strong winds.
The miserable weather looks set to continue in much of the country today.
Warnings for strong winds remain in place across parts of Andalucia, the Balearics, Cantabria, Castilla y Leon, Valencia, Galicia, Barcelona, the Canary Islands and elsewhere.
Rain will fall hardest in central areas, and in Andaluica, mostly in Cordoba, Huelva, Jaen and Sevilla.
Temperatures across the country will feel colder than usual for this time of year, warned weather agency AEMET.
