Saturday, January 10, 2009

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Snow brought chaos to Madrid yesterday. Streets were closed, there were numerous accidents and the airport was shut for five hours.

It didn't help that the three authorities; The City Council, the Community of Madrid and the Ministry of Public Works and Economy were blaming each other for not anticipating the problems that the snow was going to cause.

In the capital, it started snowing at 8am and continued until mid morning by which time the city was at a standstill. Workers at Barajas fought a loosing battle to keep the airport open with antifreeze but by11:30am the battle was lost and flights had to be cancelled until 4:40pm. Even when the airport was reopened, flights were restricted to 20 per hour.

Nine flights destined for Madrid were re routed to El Altet which remained clear all day. Luckily there was capacity on the trains from Alicante to Madrid to accommodate some of the extra passengers. However, some travellers were so desperate to get to Madrid that they took a taxi from Alicante, a journey that would have cost them at least 430 euros. To make matters worse they could well have got stuck on the motorways.

The cold snap has brought a change of fortune for some. Torrevieja has supplied between three thousand five hundred and four thousand tons of salt in the last few days to keep the motorways clear. Providing salt faster than it is produced by the lagoons has depleted the reserves. Goodness knows what will happen if the stores of salt run out but at least the salineras will have work for the future.

Of course not everyone hates the snow. Children and I dare say man adults made the best of it with snowball fights in the parks of the capital. Some even got out their sledges and skis to enjoy the most snow that Madrid has seen in ten years.

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