Storm Leonardo grounds flights in Berlin while southern Europe copes with major flooding
Storm Leonardo is testing patience across Europe, from devastating floods to an extreme cold snap, while the UK has seen non-stop rain for days.
Spain and Portugal are coping with a spate of winter storms, with the latest, Storm Leo, unleashing non-stop rain leading to deadly flooding and risk of landslides.
Meanwhile in Germany, dozens of flights have been cancelled at Berlin Airport after wintry weather caused black ice on the tarmac.
The Nordic and Baltic countries face an exceptional cold snap, with Lithuania breaking its coldest recorded temperature since 1996, -34.3C.
Flight cancellations at Berlin Airport
The flurry of cancellations started yesterday evening as Germany is gripped by snow and ice.
The country has seen freezing rain, which has turned into ice once it hit the ground, forcing airports to take precautions.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport was closed for almost 24 hours due to the weather. It warned ‘there may be delays in arrival as well as flight cancellations and delays in air traffic’ today as flights resumed.
Passengers are advised to check the status of their flight with the airline.
Several departing flights have been cancelled from Berlin Brandenburg this morning, including British Airways and easyJet flights to London.
Ryanair’s 10.15am flight FR2961 to Birmingham and to Edinburgh at 10.55am appear as cancelled on Flightradar24.
British Airways flight to London at 11.45am is also listed as cancelled, according to the flight tracking website.
What are my rights if my flight is cancelled?
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, UK and EU airlines must look after you if your flight is delayed or cancelled.
This includes everything from meals and accommodation to an alternative flight if necessary.
Citizen’s Advice says that airlines should also give impacted passengers access to phone calls and emails and, if they offer you a play to stay, organise the journeys between the hotel and the airport.
Sometimes, the airline will cover this by handing you vouchers at the airport. When in doubt, keep any receipts for expenses and claim them back afterwards from the airline.
But an airliner will only cough up money for ‘reasonable’ expenses. The hotel minibar or penthouse suites likely can’t be expensed.
If you didn’t book with a UK or EU airline, you’ll need to check their terms and conditions. Though, for the most part, airlines should provide meals and accommodation as appropriate.
If a flight is cancelled, passengers have the right to choose between getting their money back, re-routing or a return flight.
These rules do generally apply during bad weather, while airlines are not liable in ‘extraordinary circumstances’ like the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption.
Major flooding hits Spain and Portugal
Some areas, especially in southern Spain, have seen up to 23 inches of rain in just 24 hours, with some mountainous areas recording a year’s worth of precipitation from Storm Leo.
forcing nearly 4,000 people to leave their homes in Andalusia, where widespread power outages have also been reported.
The region was placed under a rare red alert after torrential rain, flooding and risk of landslides, and thousands of soldiers were drafted in to help with the evacuations.
In Portugal, a man in his 60s was confirmed dead after his car was submerged in floodwater.
The country is already reeling from the devastation caused by the previous Storm Kristin last week, which killed at least six people.
A 40-year-old woman has been missing since Wednesday evening in the Malaga province after trying to rescue her dog from a river.
A search has been ongoing to find the woman, named locally as Carolina, who was swept away by the swollen Turvilla river in the village of Sayalonga.
Her dog was spotted later, but there has been no sight of the woman despite the search and rescue teams scouring the river downstream.
More wet weather is expected to land in the Iberian Peninsula as Storm Marta is set to arrive over the weekend.
What is the UK weather forecast?
While the brunt of Storm Leonardo has been felt in the Mediterranean, the UK has had its fair share of wet weather, with grey skies feeling like the norm over the past few weeks.
Those hoping for a drier weekend are likely to be disappointed after the forecaster said there is ‘no end in sight’ for rain.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for rain ahead of the weekend.
Heavy downpours are expected across the South East of England, the South West, West Midlands and Wales until 9pm, while Northern Ireland will see showers until midnight.
Met Office operational meteorologist Dan Stroud said: ‘Unfortunately, there’s no end in sight.
‘Very little in the way of change, and the reason for it really is that we’ve got a big area of high pressure way out to the far north and east of the country and that’s stopping areas of low pressure from moving through.
‘Until that area of high pressure sort of shifts out of the way, we’re not really going to see see much of a change in the forecast.
‘At the same time, we’ve got the jet stream way to the south, bringing exceptional wet weather to Spain and Portugal.’
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