The Spanish weather service already spoke about storm Gérard on Monday. Yet this storm seems to have to make way for a short but powerful successor; storm Fien. Although almost all of Spain has to deal with this, it is especially haunted in the northern part of Spain.
On Tuesday there are weather warnings for almost all of Spain, with the exception of the Canary Islands. There is extremely high risk (code red) in Galicia, Aragon and the Basque Country due to snow storms, rain, wind and extremely high waves. In the Pyrenees near Huesca, about 40cm of snow is expected in the next 24 hours. Wind gusts between 70 and 80 km per hour are expected in these regions. Along the coast of Galicia, the wind can cause waves up to 9 metres high. Code orange applies to the entire north coast of Spain.
Basque Country activates emergency plan
The Basque Country was already quite affected by the storm in the early Tuesday morning. In the past few hours, almost 90 incidents have already been reported on the road, due to overturning and flooding of roads. The regional government of the Basque Country has declared the alarm phase and activated the flood plan in view of the high level of the rivers and the forecasts of even more rain.
In the port of Bermeo (Biscay) there has even been a death as a result of the storm. There, the emergency services found the lifeless body of an 80-year-old man. Relatives were unable to contact him since Monday evening, when the storm had already started.
Code orange for extremely strong wind and high waves
In the north and east of Castile and León, code orange applies due to snow and strong winds. The wind continues to blow hard in the rest of this region, hence code yellow. Code orange has also been declared for all the Balearic Islands. Up to wind force 8 is expected on the islands, which could cause waves up to 10 metres high. Some provinces in the interior of Valencia have also been given code orange due to extremely strong winds. Code yellow applies to the rest of Spain due to strong winds up to an average of 90 km per hour.
Provinces in southern Spain cannot escape a new storm either
Storm Fien is not limited to the north of Spain only. In the provinces of Almería and Granada, wind gusts of up to 90 km per hour and waves of up to 4 metres are expected. Code orange has therefore been issued for these provinces. Code yellow is in effect for Cádiz, Córdoba, Jaén, Málaga and Seville due to dangerous seas and strong winds.
Only the centre of Navarre, the centre of Catalonia, a large part of Extremadura and the western part of Andalucia will remain unaffected on Tuesday and there will probably be little sign of storm Fien.
Storm Fien likely to be short-lived
The Spanish weather service expects the storm to last at least until Wednesday. Although tomorrow there will be a lot of clearance in a part of the south and east of Spain. There are still weather alerts on Thursday, but they are limited to a small strip in the north of Spain.
