Ronda (Spain) (AFP) - This Saturday, Spain and Portugal face the impact of a new storm, Marta, with preventive evacuations, weather alerts and river flooding in regions already severely affected by the floods of recent days. The storm arrives after the passage of Leonardo and keeps large areas of the Iberian Peninsula on maximum alert, while the authorities ask for caution.

First modification: 02/07/2026 - 11:27 Last modification: 02/07/2026 - 14:30

Through preventive evacuations, Spain and Portugal face on Saturday the effects of the passage of a new storm, named Marta, in regions already affected by the severe flooding of recent days.

The meteorological agencies of both countries warned of the storm's arrival in the Iberian Peninsula, just after the passage of Storm Leonardo.

More than half of Andalusia, the most affected region in southern Spain, is on orange alert this Saturday due to rainfall and "locally intense gusts of wind," as announced by Aemet, the national meteorological agency.

The public body nevertheless expects a less "exceptional" rainfall phenomenon than the one caused in the middle of the week by the Leonardo storm, which caused rivers to overflow and flood in numerous places.

According to the authorities, two people lost their lives as a result of this phenomenon: a woman swept away by a river in Andalusia, whose body was found on Friday after days of searching, and another person who died in a road accident further north, in Castilla-La Mancha, caused by hail.

In Andalusia, some 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes preventively, and there are numerous roads closed and railway disruptions.

"Storm Marta brings more water and wind and the channels are at their limit. Let's not let our guard down," the Andalusian regional president, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, wrote in his X account.

As a sign of the dangerous rise in water levels, Córdoba's famous Roman Bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir River, located near its famous Mosque-Cathedral, was closed to pedestrian traffic, as cars could not pass over it.

"We have all felt overwhelmed by seeing all these rains that do not end, a soil that is no longer capable of absorbing more water," said the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, visiting the affected area.

After flying over the area in a helicopter and speaking with the rescue teams, the socialist leader asked for caution on Friday in anticipation of "complex days" to come, with "very adverse, very dangerous, very delicate weather."

The Iberian Peninsula is on the front line of climate change and has been experiencing increasingly longer heat waves for years, which begin even before summer, and episodes of intense rain that are becoming more frequent.

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In neighboring Portugal, the national meteorological agency (IPMA) put the entire coastline on orange alert, due to waves that are expected to reach up to 13 meters high.

Eight of the 18 districts of the continental territory, in the center and south of the country, are also on orange alert due to "persistent and sometimes heavy rains."

"The watersheds are all under strong pressure," in particular the Tagus River, near Lisbon, and the Sado, further south, a civil protection spokesperson told AFP.

The consequence of them is that in three days, the country's dams have released "a volume of water equivalent to the national annual consumption," said the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency, José Pimenta Machado, on Friday afternoon.

One person died as a result of Storm Leonardo this week, and the previous week another five perished in Storm Kristin in Portugal.

On this occasion, around 1,100 people have had to be evacuated from their homes.

Despite this "devastating crisis", the second round of the presidential elections will be held on Sunday, according to Prime Minister Luis Montenegro. But three very affected municipalities, including Alcácer do Sal, will postpone the vote for a week.

The authorities have launched aid deliveries by helicopter, and released images showing flooded fields, roads and mosques.

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