In the space of two hours, several tens of centimeters of muddy water poured into the streets of the Andalusian city.
No respite for Spain. While the Valencia region is still placed on red alert by the Spanish Meteorological Institute (Aemet) for torrential rains until the middle of the day on Thursday, November 14, the province of Malaga is also placed under the same alert, until 'at 7 a.m.
This new alert was caused by the presence of a new “cold drop”, an isolated high altitude depression quite common in autumn on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
Torrents of mud
On Wednesday, in the space of a few hours, torrents of muddy water poured into the streets of Malaga. In places, several tens of centimeters of water washed away cars and tree trunks.
“We had a continuous trickle of water falling from the roof, and very quickly, in less than two hours, flooding in all the streets which could range from 5 to 10 cm because we are in an area of 50 to 100 m hills. 80cm in the city center,” Stanislas, a resident of the Andalusian city, told BFMTV.
In the city center, where several roads were flooded, the metro was closed, the train line to Madrid was suspended and several flights were canceled or diverted.
More than 4,200 people were also evacuated “preventatively”, according to the authorities, while the area was experiencing the worst flooding in 37 years.
Early warning
Unlike what happened in Valencia two weeks ago, local authorities gave the alert well in advance of the rainy event, which allowed residents to prepare for rising water levels. . No victims are to be counted.
“Today, Malaga is paralyzed,” declared the president of the Andalusia region, Juan Manuel Moreno, during a trip to Seville. “Prevention is better than cure, we saw it in Valencia,” he insisted.
“Everything is going well since we were warned last night,” Ida Maria Ledesma Martin, a resident of Campanillas, near Malaga, nevertheless assured AFP. “This morning, around 10 a.m., police officers went through the streets to warn everyone, the deployment is very good and I think it is not exaggerated at all.”
In this seaside town popular with tourists, bad weather also led to the postponement to Friday of a match between Spain and Poland as part of the Billie Jean King Cup in women's tennis, which was to be played on Wednesday afternoon.
