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MADRID – Flights were briefly halted at Valencia Airport in eastern Spain yesterday after lightning and heavy flooding struck the runway following hours of torrential rain, airport officials said.
The storm, which began late on Friday, battered the eastern coastal region with high winds and heavy rain, with the downpour intensifying early yesterday.
Air traffic was initially suspended at Valencia’s airport around 1000 GMT due to the storm with lightning striking the runway several hours later.
But by 1420 GMT, the airport had reopened, Spain’s AENA airport operator said.
“Valencia airport is now operational. In the end, 10 flights were diverted to other airports and there were 28 cancellations,” it said on Twitter.
It had earlier said the runway was “no longer operational after being hit by lightning”.
Spain’s air traffic control authority Enaire earlier said all flights had been suspended due to “heavy thunderstorms” over the airport, with the regional emergency services saying the runway was waterlogged.
“Valencia airport has had to close the runway due to water accumulation, according to the airport’s operations centre,” the emergency services tweeted.
Footage reposted on Twitter by Valencia airport showed fast-moving floodwaters surging down a nearby road, washing over the bonnet of a parked car while another clip showed hailstones hitting a plane.
The storm also halted trains on several commuter lines in the Valencia area, state railway operator ADIF said, with the Valencian government saying several metro lines were also affected. – AFP, November 13, 2022