Today on the Costa Tropical the sun once again shines in a clear blue sky, but in the north of the province the snow and ice continues.

In Baza, over the weekend, five people were rescued after being trapped by heavy snowfall in their cars, between Pinarillo and Los Prados del Rey. They had no doubt that being in a 4×4 was guarantee enough of being able to cope, but they were wrong. In the end, they had to be dragged out of the snow drift by a heavy, fire-service vehicle sent from Baza to rescue them – even so it took three hours to achieve it.

In Víznar, just to the north of the city of Granada, events were more rocambolesque, when a police 4×4 sent to rescue the passengers of a car that had left the road, slid off the road themselves on the same patch of black ice. Both vehicles ended up on their roofs. As if that wasn’t enough, another car, 500 metres back, slid off the road, but managed to stay on its wheels. None of the occupants of the three vehicles were injured.

Meanwhile, up in Guadix, the police had to rescue a woman driver who had been caught by a sudden rise in the water level after trying to cross a Río Fardes between Guadix and Purullena. The policemen who rescued her from her car had to stand up to their shoulders in freezing-cold water to get her out.

Less fortunate was a 54-year-old man who was drowned trying to cross the same river the next day. His body was found tangled in roots on the river bank; apparently he had abandoned the car upon seeing that he was marooned.

(News: Baza/Guadix, Altiplano, Granada, Andalucia)