Latest rains hit Cartama and Alhaurin hard

HEAVY rains yielded more than 50 incidents in Malaga Province last week. Most of them were home floods, landslides and in water pools in traffic roads. Areas suffering most damages were the Guadalhorce and Abdalajis Valleys, especially the towns of Cartama and Alhaurin de la Torre. 

According to the Weather Office (Aemet), between 1am – 8am last Friday, 40 litres per square metre were recorded in Manilva, 37 in Fuengirola, 31 in Malaga Airport and 26 in Ronda and Estepona, as an example of the heavy showers. In Cartama’s Doña Ana neighbourhood, house owners refused to evacuate their buildings as recommended by the safety authorities. Instead, they built small contention walls with bricks and materials they had been storing for these eventualities, as heavy rains are not rare there.

Also in Cartama, a woman and her son were evacuated and brought to a near hostel by the Red Cross services. And the road connecting Cartama town to Cartama Estacion was inoperative for most of the day last Friday. In the town of Alora, around 50 countryside areas where isolated for many hours. The same happened to neighbours living in the stretch between Antequera and Alora. Evacuations were also carried out in Alhaurin de la Torre’s Santa Amalia area, with 14 people rescued as the Guadalhorce River water levels rose. 

Although there were no reports of serious damage, in the area between Alhaurin el Grande and Coin, the private bridge which leads to the property of one British resident’s collapsed after the banks of the normally peaceful stream which runs beneath it eroded due to the force of the water. The 83-year-old told EWN, “I can no longer get in or out via the bridge. Luckily there is another exit, but that is only any good if you are on foot. I don’t know how my granddaughter is going to get her car off the property. It was parked here when the bridge collapsed. It’s a good thing no-one was hurt, but I God only know how I’m going to pay for the repairs.”