Brits usually head to Spain for sunshine and sandy beaches, yet the country has been hit by heavy snow showers as Storm Juliette batters parts o f the country. Temperatures have dropped to as low as -16C in Spain while the Balearic island of Majorca has been especially hard hit.
The freak weather has caused sinkholes to open up in Palma, Majorca’s main city, while roads have also been blocked by snow. According to the authorities, buildings have collapsed, others have been flooded, roads have been closed and 13 neighbourhoods were left without electricity on the island.
A red weather alert was issued due to the possibility of eight metre high waves, The Mirror reports. On Tuesday night temperatures dropped to -16C in Molina de Aragon, Guadalajara, in central Spain, according to Spain’s official meteorological agency AEMET.
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“It was a very cold night for us to be starting the meteorological spring,“ AEMET spokesman Ruben del Campo told local media. Images of snow have been shown in coastal areas including San Sebastian and Barcelona as well as Majorca.
A statement from AEMET read: “Very cold air has arrived to the north east of the country from the Arctic that has caused a significant drop in the temperatures for the peninsula and the Balearic islands. From Wednesday onwards it should start to move away and there should be a slow improvement in the temperatures.”
Residents in Majorca have been told to stay indoors over the past couple of days with the emergency services inundated with more than 350 incidents due to the snow and high winds. There were 50 people trapped in a monastery after police were forced to close a road due to the conditions.
Orange and yellow weather warnings remain in place across the area for winds of up to 80kmph, snow and waves. In the centre of Palma, emergency services are trying to tackle a number of sinkholes which are causing traffic chaos.
The mayor, Jose Hila, has asked people to use the roads as little as possible while the clean up operation continues.
He, reported Diario de Mallorca, said: "We are trying to find the cause and the areas which are affected. The first priority is for safety and then we will look to cover up the holes.
"If it is just a question of what we can see then it will take about two or three days but if there is more to the problem than that then it will take several days longer. We are asking for residents to use the roads as little as possible at the moment."
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