The Free

Hunger Queues in Madrid Blizzard .. Deaths as poor area goes 2 Months without Power

By CIARÁN GILES and MANU FERNÁNDEZ from apnews.com . Shared with thanks illustrations added

As a record snowfall blanketed much of Spain this week and temperatures plunged below zero, few suffered the consequences as severely as the thousands of residents of the La Canada Real Galiana mega shantytown outside Madrid, long a major embarrassment for Spain.

MADRID (AP) — As record snowfall and sub-freezing temperatures enveloped much of normally temperate Spain, few residents suffered as severely as the thousands who live in La Cañada Real Galiana, a mega-shantytown outside Madrid that is ranked as one of the biggest slum areas in Europe.

Las 150 familias más vulnerables de la Cañada Real serán realojadas

First person dies for lack of electricity in Cañada Primera denuncia por el fallecimiento de una personja por falta de luz

Much of La Cañada Real had already been without electricity for months before Storm Filomena arrived. Officials claim that’s because marijuana growers in the informal settlement diverted power supplies to indoor plantations that overwhelmed the grid.

The extended outage meant that more than half of the 7,500 residents in the “poblado,” or township, remained without power during brutal weather more suited to Siberia.