One dead, a girl missing as Storm Leonardo batters Portugal and Spain

One man died in Portugal after flood waters engulfed his car and in Spain, a girl was dragged away by a river after trying to rescue her dog, as Storm Leonardo lashed the Iberian peninsula with heavy rains and strong winds on Thursday.

Leonardo is the latest in a wave of half a dozen winter storms that have swept across Portugal and Spain this year, killing several people, ripping roofs off homes and flooding towns.

A man of around 70 died on Wednesday in Portugal's southern Alentejo region after his car was swept away on a flooded road near a dam, Portuguese authorities said.

In southern Spain's Malaga province, a girl went missing after she was dragged away by the Turvilla river while trying to rescue her dog.

"We spent the whole afternoon and night yesterday searching in the river from the place where the girl fell in until the very end of the river. We found the dog, but not her," Malaga fire chief Manuel Marmolejo said on Spanish television.

Storm Marta, the next weather front in the so-called "storm train", is expected to hit the region over the weekend, according to state weather agency Aemet.

Reconstruction costs in Portugal after last week's Storm Kristin alone could total over 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion), Economy Minister Manuel Castro Almeida said.

People waded waist-deep through Alcacer do Sal in southern Portugal after successive storms caused the river Sado to breach its banks. Restaurant terraces were completely underwater, with sandbags stacked in front of doors to protect homes and shops.

"I've never seen anything like this. It's surreal," said resident Maria Cadacha. "There are a lot of people here, very good people, many shopkeepers, homes with damage. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes."

Andalusia's emergency services had attended to more than a million incidents by midnight on Wednesday, they said on X.

Fourteen rivers and 10 dams were at "extreme" risk of overflowing, according to Antonio Sanz, head of the regional government's interior department.

Portugal's National Civil Protection said it had registered at least 70 incidents as of early Thursday.

-Reporting by Paolo Laudani; editing by Charlie Devereux, Alexandra Hudson/Reuters