Neighbours have drinks in the middle of the street during a heavy snowfall in Bustarviejo, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. A persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with 50-year record levels of snow, halting traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. Half of Spain is on alert, with five provinces on their highest level of warning. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
MADRID -- A blizzard blanketed large parts of Spain with an unusual amount of snow Saturday, killing at least four people and leaving thousands trapped in cars or at train stations and airports that suspended service.
The national weather agency reported that as of 7 a.m., the snowfall in Madrid reached a level unseen in half a century. More than 20 inches of snow fell in the Spanish capital, according to the weather agency AEMET.
The bodies of a man and woman were recovered by the Andalucia region emergency service after their car was washed away by a flooded river near the town of Fuengirola. The Interior Ministry said a 54-year-old man was also found dead in Madrid under a big pile of snow. A homeless man died of hypothermia in the northern city of Zaragoza, the local police department reported.
More than half of Spain's provinces remained under severe weather alerts for Storm Filomena on Saturday evening, seven of them at the highest level of warning. In Madrid, authorities activated a red alert for the first time since the system was adopted four decades ago and called in the military to rescue people from vehicles trapped on everything from small roads to the city's major thoroughfares.
Sandra Morena, who became trapped late Friday as she commuted to her night shift as a security guard in a shopping center, arrived home on foot after an army emergency unit helped her out Saturday morning.
"It usually takes me 15 minutes, but this time it has been 12 hours freezing, without food or water, crying with other people because we didn't know how we were going to get out of there," said Morena, 22.
"Snow can be very beautiful, but spending the night trapped in a car because of it is no fun," she said.
As of Saturday evening, Spanish security services had rescued all the people who were trapped in vehicles -- more than 1,500, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.
AEMET had warned that some regions would be receiving more than 24 hours of continuous snowfall because of an odd combination of a cold air mass stagnant over the Iberian Peninsula and the arrival of the warmer Storm Filomena from the south.
Transport Minster Jose Luis Abalos warned that "snow is going to turn into ice and we will enter a situation perhaps more dangerous than what we have at the moment."
He added that the priority was to assist those in need but also to ensure the supply chain for food and other basic goods.
Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas International Airport, the main gateway in and out of Spain, will remain closed at least until today, Abalos said, after the blizzard bested machines and workers trying to keep the runways clear of snow.
All trains into and out of Madrid, both commuter routes and long-distance passenger trains, as well as railway lines between the south and the northeast of the country, were suspended, railway operator Renfe said.
The Spanish government plans to take extra steps to ensure that the country's weekly shipment of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Monday can be distributed to regional health authorities, the interior minister said.
Information for this article was contributed by Joseph Wilson of The Associated Press.
People walk during a heavy snowfall in Rivas Vaciamadrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. An unusual and persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with snow, freezing traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that had suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. The capital, Madrid, and other parts of central Spain activated for the first time its red weather alert, its highest, and called in the military to rescue people from cars vehicles trapped in everything from small roads to the city's major thoroughfares. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Frozen laundry hangs on a line outside an apartment window after a heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. Spain is on high alert as a cold snap is covering much of the country with snow disrupting road, sea, rail and air traffic with the capital, Madrid enduring what the city's mayor described as "the worst storm in 80 years." (AP Photo/Paul White)
A view from a highway covered with snow during a heavy snowfall in Rivas Vaciamadrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. An unusual and persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with snow, freezing traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that had suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. The capital, Madrid, and other parts of central Spain activated for the first time its red weather alert, its highest, and called in the military to rescue people from cars vehicles trapped in everything from small roads to the city's major thoroughfares. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Firefighters work removing snow from a car during a heavy snowfall in Rivas Vaciamadrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. An unusual and persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with snow, freezing traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that had suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. The capital, Madrid, and other parts of central Spain activated for the first time its red weather alert, its highest, and called in the military to rescue people from cars vehicles trapped in everything from small roads to the city's major thoroughfares. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A view shows the landscape covered with snow in Rivas in Rivas Vaciamadrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. Spain is on high alert Friday as a cold snap is covering with snow much of the country, causing disruptions in road, sea and air traffic while authorities warn that the worst may still be coming over the weekend. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Two men walk slowly in the middle of a street after a heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. Spain is on high alert as a cold snap is covering much of the country with snow disrupting road, sea, rail and air traffic with the capital, Madrid enduring what the city's mayor described as "the worst storm in 80 years." (AP Photo/Paul White)
People walk during a heavy snowfall in Rivas Vaciamadrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. An unusual and persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with snow, freezing traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that had suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. The capital, Madrid, and other parts of central Spain activated for the first time its red weather alert, its highest, and called in the military to rescue people from cars vehicles trapped in everything from small roads to the city's major thoroughfares. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A woman skis while crossing the Plaza Mayor in Madrid during a heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. An unusual and persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with snow, freezing traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that had suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. The capital, Madrid, and other parts of central Spain activated for the first time its red weather alert, its highest, and called in the military to rescue people from cars vehicles trapped in everything from small roads to the city's major thoroughfares. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
People walk along "El Paseo de la Castellana" avenue during a heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. A persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with 50-year record levels of snow, halting traffic and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
