Madrid: A Spanish official says about 1,400 people have been evacuated from their homes in the normally bone-dry Andalusia region in the south because of flooding from the Guadalquivir River.
Luis Pizarro of the regional government told reporters on Thursday that the hardest-hit province is Cordoba, where the river has burst its banks in some places and inundated outlying areas of the city of the same name.
Andalusia has been deluged with torrential rain for weeks. The city of Jerez was isolated last week by flood waters that forced the authorities to shut down the airport and highways leading into town.
Pizarro said water levels are so high that 32 reservoirs in Andalusia have opened up their floodgates to release the excess.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 26, 2010, 08:41