Two killed as storm lashes Spain
Much of eastern Spain as well as the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean are on alert
Madrid: Freezing winds, heavy snow and rain lashed parts of Spain Monday, killing two people, forcing the closure of schools and disrupting travel, officials said.
A 54-year-old homeless woman from Romania was found dead, apparently from hypothermia, on Monday morning at a park in Gandia on Spain's eastern Mediterranean shore, a spokesman for Gandia city hall said.
A 63-year-old Spanish man was found dead on Sunday afternoon in the central village of Pedro Bernardo, the village's mayor David Segovia said.
"He was lying on his property with a head injury caused by tiles which fell because of the snow," Bernardo told AFP.
Much of eastern Spain as well as the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean were still on alert Monday after Storm Gloria hit Spain over the weekend.
In the eastern region of Valencia classes were cancelled for nearly 200,000 students after 194 municipalities decided to close their schools, the regional government of Valencia said.
The storm also forced the closure of the airport in Alicante on the eastern Mediterranean coast, Spanish airports operator Aena said.
The airport, which serves several popular resorts such as Benidorm, is Spain's fifth busiest.
Several roads and rail links were disrupted due to the bad weather which is expected to last until Wednesday.