The Alicante-Elche Airport Emergency Cabinet has decided to extend until tomorrow the closure of the airport as Storm Gloria continues to devastate the province. Thankfully though, the storms are expected to dissipate tomorrow when it will begin to move north toward Catalonia.

The airport was expected to open at 1:00 pm but the damage caused to a large part of the roof during last Wednesday’s fire has caused the prolongation of the closure. In normal conditions the terminal would have been operational but the forecast of strong gusts has forced the authorities to extend the closure to Tuesday because of the likelihood of loose objects and debris on the terminal roof being caught in the wind.

The fire caused the bomberas to remove large parts of the roof and many elements are currently sitting on the rooftop where they are completely detached and susceptible to being caught by the wind.

Large areas of El Comtat, l’Alcoià, Alto Vinalopó and l’Alacantí, all 600 meters above sea level, are covered by snow

The first day of storm Gloria brought with it heavy rains, strong gusts of wind, snow on the high peaks of the province of Alicante, causing the closure of many roads and the Alicante airport, which will not predictably admit traffic until today at 13 hours.

The municipalities of L’Alcoià, El Comtat and Medio Vinalopó, as well as the majority of those in the Marina Alta, along with Torrevieja, Orihuela and Guardamar, in the Vega Baja, have suspend all schools this Monday. However Alicante and Elche will open their educational centres as normal with the exception of the IES Torrellano and the Las Bayas school in the ilicitana district.

The snow made an appearance in many areas, as well as the rain, which was intense in places along with an unusually strong wind.

The consequences were not serious, although there were significant incidents on many local roads,  as well as on the public services and the daily activity of many towns. And this was only the beginning, as the storm alert remains in place for today at the highest level of alert, Red.

Large areas of El Comtat, l’Alcoià and Alto Vinalopó, as well as those to the north of l’Alacantí and the westernmost part of the Marina Alta and Marina Baixa were covered in the white stuff. In general, the snow appeared in areas that are above 600 metres of altitude, although in some points this snowfall was alternating with the rain, which also fell with intensity in many of those same regions located at lower altitude.

The snow was particularly heavy in mountainous areas of municipalities such as Villena, Beneixama, Ibi, Agres and Planes, and also in urban areas such as Banyeres, Biar, Benillup, Fageca, Alcoleja and the Torre de les Maçanes.

At the time of writing there had been no serious incidents, but given the possibility that the snowfall would gain in intensity during the day the authorities appealed for everyone to take extreme precautions.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR