Unsettled weather plagues Spain by Steph Ball
Unsettled weather has continued to plague parts of Spain over the last few days, with heavy rain triggering floods.
After months of severe drought, Spain’s worst in over half a century, it is reported that May 2008 has been the country’s wettest since May 1971. Since the beginning of June, low pressure has continued to dominate bringing more wet weather, mostly across northern and eastern parts of the country. Last week, heavy rain across Spain’s Basque country triggered severe floods as streets were turned into rivers.
The recent rainfall has helped to address the deficit left in reservoirs over the last few months, so much so that Spanish authorities recently cancelled a controversial drought relief plan. This involved running a pipeline to redirect water from the Ebro River to the northeast region of Cataluña.
The rain has also caused a headache for the organisers of Expo2008 in Zaragoza in the run up to its opening. The event, perhaps ironically given the topic this year of “water and sustainable development” suffered some flooding as the Ebro River overflowed.
Further heavy rain caused severe flooding in Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha on Sunday with over 75mm (3 inches) of rain falling in 24 hours. The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) is forecasting further showers for the north and east today but with conditions expected to improve over the next few days.
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