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Heavy snowfall closes 138 roads in Spain; 11,000 lorries were stranded over the weekend

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Pölös Zsófia

Pölös Zsófia

Journalist Trans.info

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11.01.2021

The heaviest snowfall in 50 years came to Spain last weekend, trapping more than 11,00 lorries on the roads. The storm raged on Friday and Saturday, but there were still more than 7,000 lorries stuck in the snow as of Sunday morning.

At the moment, 138 roads are closed, and traffic restrictions should be expected on other 689 road sections, reports the Spanish Dirección General de Tráfico (General Directorate of Traffic – DGT).

In addition, the DGT has warned drivers that snow was likely to have frozen into perilous ice due to the temperature dropping below -8 degrees overnight.

Some of the affected roads are part of the main Spanish road network, the C-25 in Girona.

Click on this interactive  map to see which roads are closed:

Source: http://infocar.dgt.es/etraffic/

>>> For the latest updates on the roads and traffic follow DGT on Twitter <<<

More than thousand of lorries were stuck in the snow during the weekend

The General Directorate of Traffic reported about 11,300 lorries were stuck in the snow due to Storm Filomena during the weekend. By Sunday morning, the DGT had rescued 4,200 of them, and by the end of the day, all of lorries the were freed. The storm raged mainly in the areas of Teruel, Zaragoza, Tarragona, Castellón and Valencia.

Storm ‚Filomena’ also closed several sections of the A3 dual carriageway and forced hundreds of drivers to stop and spend Saturday night on the road.

Many services didn’t open that day due to the storm, so lorry drivers were left without food and facilities to use. Note that many of the truckers were carrying out domestic transportations, which meant many didn’t have suitable provisions of food and drink on board.

The Spanish Civil Guard rescued the lorries in groups of 50 and split them between several services to clear the road. In addition, The Red Cross and Civil Protection distributed blankets and sandwiches to the truckers stuck on the roads.

More snow and freezing temperatures to come

The National Meteorological Agency (AEMET) in Spain predict low temperatures until Thursday, therefore drivers must prepare for more challenging conditions.

Photo credit @ DGTes/ Twitter

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