Parts of southern Spain and Portugal were facing severe disruption on Thursday due to torrential rainfall, floods and landslides brought by Storm Leonardo.

Leonardo is the seventh storm to hit the Iberian Peninsula this year. Last week, five people died, hundreds were injured and tens of thousands were left without electricity in Portugal.

Rising global temperatures due to human-driven climate change mean floods and other extreme weather events in Europe are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer, scientists say.

Spain's eastern Valencia region saw the worst flashfloods in the country's recent history in October 2024, when 237 people were killed.

How is Storm Leonardo affecting Spain?

In Spain's Malaga province, a woman was missing after she was swept away by the Turvilla River while she was trying to save her dog, the local fire chief said.

"We found the dog, but not her," Manuel Marmolejo told Spanish television.

Some areas of the southern Spanish region of Andalusia saw more than 40 centimeters (15 inches) of rain on Wednesday — the equivalent of several months' worth of rainfall.

The rains, floods and landslides have forced nearly 4,000 people to evacuate their homes and paralyzed dozens of roads and railway lines.

The regional Andalusia president, Juan Manuel Moreno, said the same amount of rain fell on the mountain village of Grazalema in 16 hours as ​the Madrid region would see in a year.

Two nearby reservoirs, which are at risk of bursting because of the torrential rains, were set to be drained, Moreno said.

Spain's national weather agency AEMET has lifted the highest alert for the south of the country.

But it warned that "Marta", the next front in the so-called "storm train" this year, is expected to hit the peninsula in the coming days.

What is the situation in Portugal?

In neighboring Portugal, a man of around 70 died in the rural Alentejo region on Wednesday after his car was swept away on a road near a dam, local authorities said.

In the neighboring region of Santarem, authorities on Thursday issued the highest flood alert for the Tagus River.

People living near the river have been evacuated, authorities said.

Mario Silverstre, the country's civil protection chief, warned that the flood threat along the Tagus was the most serious in three decades.

In Alcacer do Sal, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of the capital Lisbon, the Sado River burst its banks on Wednesday, flooding the town center. The water level was as high as two meters (seven feet) in some parts of the town.

Portugal's national weather agency IPMA said January was the country's second-wettest since 2000.

In the north and center of the country, train services have been suspended, while in the capital, parks and tunnels have been shut and river transport connections have been suspended.

Like Spain, more heavy rains are forecast to hit Portugal in the coming days.

Leonardo has also caused death and destruction further south, in Morocco, where at least three people have died and 140,000 people have been evacuated.

Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez