Heavy rains and floods surprise Spain

TORRENTIAL rains have swept the country and caused heavy downpours and flooding in areas including Almeria, Granada, Axarquia and Costa Blanca.

In the Costa del Sol some flights had to be diverted and leaks at some points in Malaga Airport’s T3 terminal appeared on Monday, September 7.

Almeria: The most affected areas were El Ejido and Adra, where over a hundred 112 emergency service calls were registered due to the torrential downpours. In Adra, Civil Protection had to rescue more than 30 people stranded in their vehicles. The storm caused significant material damage, including cutting off main roads, breaking shop windows and dragging cars along the streets.

Granada: Late hour torrential rains, especially on the coast, caused the death of a man who was swept down a river in his vehicle, and cut off a total of seven roads due to landslides.

Axarquia: Several areas were flooded including Frigiliana, where a pharmacy and a Unicaja bank were completely inundated; Algarrobo, where a vehicle was swept away; Torre del Mar and Benamocarra, where firefighters had to help the owners of a bakery to bail out the water.

Costa Blanca: The main access in to Torrevieja was cut off for hours as the storm caused floods, landslides and blocked streets. Water dragged several vehicles near the beach as up to 78 litres per square metre were registered at some hours. Cartagena was no exception as access to the centre of the city was totally cut off and floods caused hold-ups at several access points to the city.