In the Madrid area, rescuers reached 1,500 people trapped in cars, while the police broke up a large snowball battle after the authorities appealed to citizens to stay in their homes at the risk of accidents or the spread of the Corona virus.

Meteorologists have warned of dangerous conditions in the coming days, as temperatures are expected to drop to minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) next week and the possibility of snow turning into ice and falling down affected trees.

In Madrid, police cordoned off buildings that were covered in large amounts of snow on their roofs in case of accidents, but residents took to the streets in large numbers to enjoy the rare sight of their white-covered city.

About 100 workers and shoppers spent two nights sleeping in a shopping center in Magadahonda, a town north of Madrid, after being trapped by a blizzard on Friday.

„There are people sleeping on the floor on cardboard,“ restaurant worker Evan Alcala told TVE.

Madrid International Airport suspended flights until Sunday evening.

Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said on Saturday that about 20,000 km of roads in central Spain had been affected by the storm and that the government would send convoys carrying vaccines and food supplies to those in need.

Officials said a man and a woman in a car drowned after a river exploded near Malaga in the south, while two homeless people froze to death in Madrid and Calatayud in the east.

The state meteorological agency (Aemet) said snowfall reached 20-30 cm (7-8 inches) in Madrid on Saturday, the most since 1971.