Photos: Record snowfall disrupts life in Madrid
Schools, courts and museums were closed throughout Madrid on January 11, two days after central Spain was hit by a massive snowstorm. Officials have asked people to stay at home if possible after Storm Filomena dumped between 20-30 centimetres of snow on Madrid on January 9, the heaviest snowfall since 1971. The storm killed at least three people as it swept through Spain and kept emergency services workers and army snowploughs busy, freeing 2,500 drivers trapped in their vehicles.
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A person walks past fallen branches in Madrid amid heavy snowfall on January 9. The Spanish capital is trying to get back on its feet after a 50-year record snowfall that paralysed large parts of central Spain over the weekend. It has now led to icy weather that is hampering the rollout of the much-needed vaccination against the coronavirus.(Gabriel Bouys / AFP)
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A plough clears snow in downtown Madrid on January 10. Nearly 700 roads remain affected throughout Spain, with winter tires or chains needed on roughly half of them, AP reported quoting transit authority DGT.(Manu Fernandez / AP)
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A woman slides down steps outside the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid on January 10. With a sharp drop in temperatures on January 11 and frost freezing much of the snow, which reached more than 50 centimeters in some urban areas, authorities are calling on people to avoid all but essential trips out of their homes.(Gabriel Bouys / AFP)
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People out in the snow outside the Royal Palace in Madrid on January 9. In Madrid, authorities are calling on citizens to avoid using the few lanes that civil protection and military battalions, aided by snowplows and bulldozers, have managed to clear for ambulances and emergency vehicles.(Gabriel Bouys / AFP)
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