MADRID—At least three people died and three were missing as record rainfall caused heavy flooding in central Spain, closing roads, subway lines, and high-speed train connections, authorities said on Sept. 4.
Helicopters were sent to rescue people who had sought refuge on the roofs of their homes in the Toledo area, about 30 miles southwest of Madrid, emergency services said.
The sudden downpour on Sept. 3 and early on Sept. 4 transformed streets into rivers of mud that swept away cars and trash bins in Madrid, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia, and Valencia regions. Hail also fell in many areas.
Three people died in the countryside around the central city of Toledo, as nearly 7 inches of rain fell across parts of Spain on Sept. 3.
One of the victims was a young man who was trapped in an elevator that filled with water, while another was inside a vehicle that flooded, police said.
The third person who died was a 50-year-old man who had been reported as missing. His body was found floating in a river near his home in the town of Camarena.
“It just kept raining and we were a little scared, but we were indoors, so we were safe,” said Isabella Stewart, a U.S. missionary living in Toledo as she was taking a bus.
Another Toledo resident, Ruben Gonzalez, said: “I live four blocks away and it was very strong. Everything is flooded. This is crazy.”
Later on Sept. 4, AEMET said the cut-off low phenomenon—also known as weatherman’s woe—that had caused the downpour was starting to move away from the country.
In the Madrid region, emergency services tackled almost 1,200 incidents overnight, and firefighters and police were searching for one man in the rural area of Aldea del Fresno, southwest of Madrid, the emergency services said.
The man went missing with his son when their car was dragged into the Alberche River after an avalanche caused by a sudden downpour.
“The minor was rescued after he had climbed up a tree,” the Madrid emergency service said.
Rescuers were also looking for a woman who disappeared under similar circumstances near Toledo and for an 84-year-old man who was dragged away by streams of water and mud in Villamanta, west of Madrid.
Several roads in the Madrid region were closed as half a dozen bridges were destroyed by water overflowing the riverbanks.
The defense ministry said it had deployed army engineers to build a so-called Bailey bridge—a type of portable truss bridge—in Aldea del Fresno to connect the banks after the original bridge was swept away.
Several subway lines were closed in central Madrid early on Sept. 4, though the service was re-established in most of the city during the morning, subway operator Metro de Madrid said in a statement.
Some high-speed connections between Madrid and the southern region of Andalusia have resumed, although trains were operating at slower-than-normal speeds.
