Large areas of El Comtat, l’Alcoià, Alto Vinalopó, Marina Alta and an area to the north of l’Alacantí are now covered with snow. Traffic is very slow on the A-31 from Villena and on the A-7 between Ibi and Cocentaina, where some highways have been closed to heavy vehicles.

So the effects of the storm Gloria are now being felt in the province. From early Sunday afternoon there was snowfall in wide areas of the interior, with the added complication of a blustery wind.

So far several areas around El Comtat, l’Alcoià, Alto Vinalopó, Marina Alta and l’Alacantí  have already been dyed white, while in other places the precipitation is falling in the form of heavy rain. It is expected that these weather conditions will deteriorate over the next few hours, and that a Red Alert will remain in place until Monday at noon.

The snow has already fallen in many urban areas, such as Banyeres, Benillup, Fageca, Alcoleja and  the Torre de les Maçanes , north of l’Alacantí, as well as in mountain range of the Villena, Beneixama municipalities, Banyeres, Ibi, Agres and Planes, among others, according to the information released by the Laboratory of Climatology of the University of Alicante (UA) and by residents of some of the locations mentioned above, as well as through the data recorded by the meteorological stations of the Avamet and Meteoclimatic networks.

At this time there are no closed roads, according to the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) and 112 of the Generalitat Valenciana , but the A-31 is closed to heavy vehicles from Villena in the direction of Albacete and Madrid, as well as the A-7 between Ibi and Cocentaina in both directions. In addition, the state of several secondary roads around the Sierra de Mariola is very slow, such as the CV-795, the CV-803 and the CV-801, which connect Banyeres with Alcoy, Onil and Ibi, respectively, as well as in the whole region of El Comtat.

In the easternmost part of El Comtat and the Marina Alta, there is heavy rainfall with up to 103.4 litres per sq metre in Benissili, in the Vall de Gallinera, and Gaianes, Beniarrés and Planes, with 70 liters per square metres.

The storm has also closed the Alicante-Elche airport to air traffic for 24 hours, until tomorrow at one o’clock, due to the strong winds.

In addition, the Education authorities in Elche are considering cancelling classes for tomorrow, Monday, due to the weather outlook.

Whilst still coming to a decision, however, the Government Twitter feed in Alicante released the message “OFFICIAL COMMUNICATE AEMET C. VALENCIANA- Classes are suspended in all schools in the *province of Alicante* due to the red alert present for the cold drop storm.

In the run up to the storms the Red Cross has enabled shelters for the homeless in Alicante, Alcoy, Elda and Dénia, in coordination with the town halls where there are total of 97 places.

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