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Madrid hospitals inundated with snow and ice injuries

Hospitals across the Community of Madrid have been inundated with people needing treatment for injuries sustained in the ice.

Published: 12 January 2021 13:02 CET
Madrid hospitals inundated with snow and ice injuries
Photo: Fiona Govan/The Local

Across the region, hospitals emergency departments dealt with 1,200 patients with injuries sustained falling in the ice.

According to Pedro Villarroel, head of emergency medicine at Madrid’s hospital Clínico, “We have seen three times the number of usual traumatology cases on Monday alone”.

After Storm Filomena brought the heaviest snowfall in at least half a century to Madrid over the weekend, a steep drop in temperatures has turned accumulated snow into ice.

Monday night was recorded as “the coldest in the entire county at least since the cold snap of 2001,” according to Rubén del Campo, forecaster for the national weather agency AEMET.

A trip to the local shop now involves navigating snowpiles, fallen branches, and channels of lethal black ice, despite efforts by neighbourhood groups to clear the paths and lay salt.


Photo: AFP

The ambulance service, Samur-Civil Protection, reported that during Monday more than half of their call outs (169 out of 294) were for incidents caused by falling or slipping in the icy conditions.

While Madrid 112 dealt with 411 cases related to falls between 6:00 and 18:30 on Monday throughout the region.

 

 

Driving conditions for vehicles except 4x4s remain treacherous and the region’s few snowploughs have been working to clear main thoroughfares in the capital before starting on smaller streets.


Photo: AFP

Added to that is the danger of falling icy blocks from accumulated snowdrifts on roof tops and broken masonry from the weight of the snow.

On Monday evening, warned Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, warned people not to be complacent.“This is not over,” he said urging citizens to avoid road travel as much as possible. “It is essential to maintain all safety precautions and not let ourselves be fooled by the clear skies. Snow can become a trap for vehicles and citizens.”

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WEATHER

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

Blizzards in Denmark this week have resulted in the greatest depth of snow measured in the country for 13 years.

Published: 4 January 2024 14:18 CET
Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

A half-metre of snow, measured at Hald near East Jutland town Randers, is the deepest to have occurred in Denmark since January 2011, national meteorological agency DMI said.

The measurement was taken by the weather agency at 8am on Thursday.

Around 20-30 centimetres of snow was on the ground across most of northern and eastern Jutland by Thursday, as blizzards peaked resulting in significant disruptions to traffic and transport.

A much greater volume of snow fell in 2011, however, when over 100 centimetres fell on Baltic Sea island Bornholm during a post-Christmas blizzard, which saw as much as 135 centimetres on Bornholm at the end of December 2010.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s January storms could be fourth extreme weather event in three months

With snowfall at its heaviest for over a decade, Wednesday saw a new rainfall record. The 59 millimetres which fell at Svendborg on the island of Funen was the most for a January day in Denmark since 1886. Some 9 weather stations across Funen and Bornholm measured over 50cm of rain.

DMI said that the severe weather now looks to have peaked.

“We do not expect any more weather records to be set in the next 24 hours. But we are looking at some very cold upcoming days,” DMI meteorologist and press spokesperson Herdis Damberg told news wire Ritzau.

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