Tom Ewart Smith
THIS is the moment Cadiz firefighters rescued 40 people from 20 vehicles after they became trapped on the motorway.
Heavy rains over the weekend and yesterday caused the Salado river to overflow onto the AP-4, taking dozens of drivers by surprise.
Meanwhile, parts of the motor racing circuit in Jerez were filmed submerged by water as heavy hail stones bucketed down.
The Provincial Fire Department of Cadiz said at least four vehicles and 10 emergency workers from the Jerez fire department were deployed.
Firefighters from the same station, along with those from Sanlucar de Barrameda, also responded to 11 calls late on Monday in Torre Melgarejo, Estella del Marques, Majada Alta, Camino de Montealegre, and Inmaculada for water pumping in houses.
Multiple people were rescued from homes and vehicles by firefighters.
Part of the AP-4 motorway in the direction of Sevilla was closed at 8am today due to dangerous amounts of water on the road.
For the same reason, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) also closed the CA-4101 from kilometre 0 to 1.87 in Nuevajarilla-Torrecera, and the CA-4103 from kilometre o to 4.25 in Estrella del Marques-Torre Melgarejo.
The incident comes after a week of weather warnings were issued for parts of southern Spain.
The Costa del Sol, inland areas of Malaga and the coasts of Cadiz and Huelva have all been under a yellow alert for heavy rainfall.
According to state weather agency Aemet, the wet weather has been caused by a so-called DANA weather system.
