Officials in Madrid are frantically rushing out of the weekend’s massive snowstorm in the Spanish capital, in a race against plunging temperatures.
Four people died on Friday and Saturday when up to 20 inches of snow fell on the city and its environs – including two that froze to death, the BBC said in a report Monday.
Officials fear the cold snap will freeze the city’s snow piles and create even more dangerous conditions.
With temperatures dropping below 20 degrees at night, the Spanish government has stepped up cleanup – shipping about 3,500 tons of road salt to the capital.
Spanish officials have also deployed police to escort convoys to ensure that 300,000 coronavirus vaccines are delivered to the city despite the winter storm.
As many as 700 main roads in and around Madrid remained blocked, the BBC said.
The blizzard was the worst to hit Spain since a blizzard in 1971 that dropped up to 20 centimeters of snow across the country.