MELTING snow and heavy rain in northern Spain has caused river levels to rise – in particular the Ebro on its way through the region of Navarra, leaving unprecedented floods which are now seeping into neighbouring Aragón.
Already, towns and cities are sitting over two feet deep in water and 20,000 hectares of land has been affected by the Ebro bursting its banks in Navarra alone.
Castejón and Tudela, close to the border with Aragón, are under water and the first town on the other side of the regional frontier, Novillas, in the province of Zaragoza is now flooded.
The Ebro in this area has risen to seven metres in depth and has flooded 1,500 hectares of land, leaving at least 20 houses waterlogged, according to mayor of Novillas, José Ayesa, who says the town is 'living on a knife-edge'.
This part of the river is rising at a rate of between 2,000 and 2,200 cubic metres a second, and the situation is likely to continue for at least another 48 hours.
Zaragoza city hall sources say if the floods reach the metropolitan area, authorities should be able to cope as they are used to situations of this nature.
The regional government of Aragón says the main threat so far is to the town of Boquiñeni, where the military has fitted flood barriers and which are, at present, holding out.
A nursing home in the rural Monzalbarba district of the city and the urbanisation Torre Urzáiz in nearby Movera, also in the countryside surrounding Zaragoza have been evacuated as a precaution, but authorities do not expect anyone else will have to leave their homes.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com