HEAVY SNOWFALL IN SPAIN BLAMED FOR FOUR DEATHS

Emergency crews in central Spain cleared 500 roads and rescued more than 1,500 people stranded in their vehicles, allowing Madrid and other areas on Sunday to slowly shovel out of the country’s worst snowstorm in recent memory.

After recording 20 inches of snow in the Spanish capital between Friday night and Saturday, Madrid and a large swathe of the country remained impassable Sunday, with roads, rail lines and air travel disrupted by Storm Filomena. The blizzard has been blamed for four deaths.

Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said by Sunday crews had cleared two runways at Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas International Airport and that departures had restarted. Arrivals would slowly begin again sometime between Sunday evening and Monday, weather permitting.

Trains traversing the capital gradually came back online Sunday afternoon.

More than 150 roads were still impassable Sunday. Authorities said all trips by car should be postponed and tire chains were obligatory for journeys that couldn’t be avoided. They said all people trapped in their cars by the snow had been rescued but hundreds of cars needed to be recovered after being abandoned by drivers.

The biggest snowfall since the 1980s in Madrid, according to Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, produced some unusual scenes with some residents using skies to mush through the snow-covered streets.

Storm Filomena lost streng th as it moved eastward but authorities are still urging people to remain at home to limit the risk of falls on icy streets as a cold front moves in.