BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Emergency services in southern Spain were searching Tuesday for a married couple after flash floods swept away their vehicle as rising waters prompted the evacuation of hundreds of homes. Authorities closed roads and canceled classes while urging people to heed safety warnings.
Andalusia’s regional president Juanma Moreno Bonilla said that the couple's off-road vehicle was washed away when they were driving across their property in the municipality of Constantina.
"The vehicle turned over when it crossed a stream and the current carried it away,” Moreno said. “We ask for everyone to exercise maximum caution. Many times people don’t see the danger.”
Regional officials ordered the evacuation of 365 homes in the village of Campanillas near Malaga city late on Monday after a nearby river burst its banks. The evacuees spent the night in a municipal sports hall.
Andalusia's interior chief Antonio Sanz said that 19 rivers in Andalusia were on red alert for flooding on Tuesday, as bad weather spread from Malaga on the southern coast to landlocked areas near Seville and Cordoba. A total of 40 highways across Andalusia as well as some rail lines had to be closed due to rising waters.
Emergency services responded to hundreds of calls for assistance. The Civil Guard even helped rescue a pair of dogs at risk of drowning in muddy waters, according to a video published by the police.
The same area in Malaga was hit in November when heavy rains across a large swath of Spain led to devastating flooding in the country's east, claiming 233 lives mostly in Valencia.
Spain, which has suffered from a prolonged drought in recent years, has received steady rainfall especially in its south for the last two weeks, and the latest storm proved too much for reservoirs and riverbanks.
Scientists and government officials link these swings between extreme dry and wet spells to climate change, which has also produced increasingly hot summers in Spain.
Associated Press, The Associated Press
