Easter 2024 has been a wash out all across Spain with wind and torrential rains forcing the cancellation of many of the key Good Friday and Easter Monday processions including in Madrid.
The last time the Holy Week processsions were called off was in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The processions and parades attract tens of thousands of visitors who line the streets to watch the solemn event featuring hooded penitents.
Spain’s meteorological agency, AEMET, issued weather warnings for 14 of the country’s 17 regions including Madrid which is on a red weather alert due to heavy rain, winds of more than 70 kilometres (40 miles) per hour.
The red weather alert is the highest category and means that extreme weather conditions are expected. All public parks will be closed from midday.
The Sierra of Madrid saw heavy snowfall on Easter Sunday causing treacherous driving conditions in the north of the region.
Four people died last week in three incidents on Spain’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts after falling into the sea.
Rain also forced the cancellation in recent days of other Holy Week parades across the country.
“It was not to be this year,” the head of the regional government of the southwestern region of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, said late on Thursday.
The rainy spell is forecast to last until at least Monday, putting in jeopardy more processions scheduled for the weekend.
But the storms are otherwise good news for Spain where several regions, notably Andalucia and Catalonia which have seen drought like conditions due to the lack of water.
Catalonia declared a drought emergency on February 1, imposing restrictions on the use of water in Barcelona and the surrounding area.
However, January was the hottest on record with temperatures reaching nearly 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in some regions in Andalucia and Murcia.