Storm predicted to hit Spain this weekend

According to the State meteorological Agenct (Aemet) a storm which is currently crossing the Atlantic will hit Spain this weekend. It is expected that Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria will bear the brunt of the storm with winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour. The strength and devastating effects of the storm are expected to be ‘explosive’.

Ángel Rivera, a spokeswoman for Aemet, said that the storm was expected to hit the Canary Islands during the early hours of Saturday and the Spanish Peninsula from midday onwards. According to the latest forecasts the storm will then move over Cantabria and on to France on Sunday. He added that this was going to be an extremely big storm which would affect a large part of the Spanish Peninsula.

Flooding in Andalucia which has experienced the rainiest winter since 1963 has sparked a political row between the regional government of Andalucia and the PP. Water levels for the Guadalquivir river keep on rising.

In fact since 15th December 610 litres of rainfall per square metre have been recorded by the Andalucian Water Agency.

The PP has accused the regional government of not fulfilling The Flood Prevention Plan for Andalucia. According to the PP it has only completed 10% of the work so far although Juan Paniagua, the director of the Andalucian Water Agency has strenuously denied this and accused the PP of ‘lies’.

Flooding in Andalucia has resulted in 600 homes having to be evacuated a large number of which were illegally built on flood plains. Flooding has affected 7 out of the 49 municipalities through which the Guadalquivir runs with a total population of one and a half million people – so far only 0.1% of the population of this area has been affected by flooding.

Emergency plans remain in place in three provinces – Jaén, Córdoba and Sevilla.