Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region in southern Spain after a red weather warning was issued for heavy rain and flooding.
Spain’s Civil Protection Agency sent a mass alert to phones in Málaga province after 22:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening warning of a “high risk of rain”.
The area, which includes the tourist resorts of Marbella, Velez and Estepona, is expected to bear the brunt of the worst weather known as “Dana”.
Many other regions in Spain are still waiting as the new weather is expected to bring heavy rain and low temperatures in a few weeks as the country has been devastated by floods that have killed more than 220 people so far.
Catalonia in northeastern Spain, especially on the coast near Tarragona, has also been put on red alert until Wednesday evening.
Schools throughout the province south of Málaga are closed and many supermarkets are closed.
About 3,000 people living near the Guadalhorce River have been told to leave their homes, the Andalusian Regional Government said.
The Minister of the Office of the President of the region Antonio Sanz said: “We have not removed all the towns, but there are some areas connected to the river bank.
“This decision has been forwarded to the Spanish government to obtain cooperation with the security forces and state agencies.”
A bad weather warning in Málaga led to the opening of the Billie Jean King Cup matches between Spain and Poland, the International Tennis Federation said.
The two countries will play in Malaga on Wednesday.
In some parts of Spain precautionary measures are being taken – areas in the east and south of the Mediterranean are the most vulnerable.
Valencia is still recovering from the first “Dana” weather program at the end of October [Reuters]
The Spanish meteorological agency Aemet has placed parts of the regions of Valencia and Andalusia, as well as the Balearic Islands, on orange alert from now until Thursday.
Aemet warns of rain and storms that could be “very strong and cause flooding”.
That orange warning is the second highest and indicates a significant weather event with “some level of risk to normal operations”.
In Valencia, school classes and sports activities were suspended in some areas and sandbags were piled up to protect the Aldaia city center.
However, this second weather system of Dana is not expected to be as big as the red alert on October 29, when the region of Valencia in particular suffered an unprecedented loss of life and material damage.
Elsewhere, the rescue team searching for the bodies of two young brothers who were swept away by the floods in Valencia two weeks ago said their bodies have been found.
Izan Matías, 5, and Rubén Matías, 3, were taken from the arms of their father Victor Matías when the flood swept through their home in Valencia on the night of October 29.
Their aunt Barbara Sastre confirmed to the BBC that the boys were found. Their bodies were found in different places.
“My little angels, we finally found you,” another family friend, David Garcia, wrote online. “Two stars are brighter in the sky.”
Yesterday, search teams were concentrating on a section of the River Pollo about 6km (3.7km) from the family’s home.
The boys’ uncle Iván told the BBC he was grateful for all the support they had received and hoped his nephews would be found.
Volunteers from the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain had joined medical professionals from Mexico, who often work after earthquakes.
On Monday, the family’s dog was found dead in a garage in the town of Paiporta, 12 kilometers from their home in La Curra, which is a neighbor of Mas del Jutge.
Dana weather systems are formed when a low-pressure area is “cut off” from the main jet stream.
This means that instead of moving through the region quickly, they are blocked in the same area leading to continuous rain for several days.
Cold air high in the atmosphere meets warm air flowing in from the Mediterranean which strengthens the storm.
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