Storm Leonardo Batters the Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, primarily occupied by Spain and Portugal, continues to battle Storm Leonardo, an intense Level 4 extratropical storm that emerged in early February 2026. Since February 3, the slow-moving system has caused widespread disruptions, flooding and mass evacuations, with more than 150,000 people forced to leave their homes amid closures of roads, schools and other vital transportation networks. Meteorologists say the extreme torrential rainfall is being driven by an unusually southward-shifted jet stream—a fast, narrow current of air that circles the globe. The storm has also merged with an atmospheric river, a concentrated region of tropical water vapor originating from the Caribbean, continuously replenishing the rainfall. 

While direct flood casualties remain relatively rare, a man in his sixties died in Portugal after being swept away by rising floodwaters, and a woman in Spain is still missing after being carried off by a swollen river. Furthermore, the city of Grazlama, Spain, received around 40 cm of rain in just 24 hours—the same amount Madrid typically sees in an entire year—triggering landslides and toppling trees in mountainous areas. More than 1,200 emergency personnel and 400 military members have been deployed to assist the most at-risk regions, particularly near rivers and reservoirs nearing capacity. Authorities have also called in inflatable rafts, emergency aircraft and helicopters to rescue residents and monitor critical zones. Tens of thousands of families across the peninsula are now facing major power outages.

Flooding is becoming increasingly frequent across Europe as the atmosphere warms and holds more moisture, a trend driven by human activities that accelerate climate change. Soils across much of the continent are already heavily saturated from repeated storms, leaving the ground unable to absorb additional rainfall, which has dramatically increased the risk of runoff and flooding. Just last year, unprecedented flash floods in Spain’s Valencia region killed 237 people, a stark reminder of the destructive power of extreme weather. 

Storm Leonardo is the latest in a wave of half a dozen winter storms to batter the Iberian Peninsula in 2026, with another new system, Storm Martha, hitting Spain and Portugal on Feb. 7, forcing three Portuguese municipalities to postpone Sunday’s presidential vote until next week. Portugal is still struggling to recover from last week’s Storm Kristin, which claimed five lives, leaving communities reeling as emergency services and responders are pushed to their limits.

As Storm Leonardo continues to rage across the Iberian Peninsula, reshaped climate patterns are turning once-anomalous flooding events into increasingly destructive and recurring disasters. Warmer air streams capable of holding increased amounts of moisture, combined with heavily saturated soils and rapidly shifting jet streams, are creating conditions ripe for prolonged flooding. With storms emerging in rapid succession and recovery windows becoming shorter, Spain and Portugal face mounting pressure to adapt infrastructure, strengthen emergency preparedness and plan for a future in which extreme flooding—now affecting much of Europe—is no longer an exception, but a growing reality.  

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• Staff, Sky News

• Staff, The Australian

• Mateo Della Torre, European Environment Agency