torrential rains in Malaga, two weeks after devastating floods

INTERNATIONAL – No respite for Spain. Just two weeks after the devastating floods which left at least 223 dead mainly in the Valencia region, new torrential rains fell this Wednesday, November 13 in the south and east of Spain, as you can see in the video at the top of the article.

The national meteorological agency (Aemet) has issued a red alert, the maximum level, in the provinces of Malaga (south) and Tarragona (north-east), due to this new “cold drop”, an isolated depression at high altitude quite common in autumn on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

Heavy rains, although less heavy, are also expected in the Valencia region, affected by the floods of October 29, with the fear of seeing the sewers still blocked by mud overflow, while residents struggle to raise their heads in the face of the enormous damage caused by this tragedy.

“We have already lost our cars, we have already lost a large part of our homes and we don't have a job either. So we have nothing left to lose.”lamented Carlos Moltó, a resident of Picaña, a municipality of 11,000 inhabitants located on the outskirts of Valencia, near the regional television channel A Punt.

The neighboring municipality of Paiporta, considered the epicenter of the tragedy of October 29, for its part suffered new floods, according to the newspaper The Provinces. In this town, which is still devastated, residents have set up makeshift barricades with bags of earth in front of the doors of houses.

Alarms on phones

As a precaution, several municipalities in the region have asked the thousands of volunteers who come every day to help residents clear the streets, not to go to the disaster areas on Wednesday.

The new rains could disrupt the search for the 17 people still missing according to the authorities. Operations are mainly concentrated around watercourses and on the coast, at river mouths.

In Andalusia and Catalonia, where the provinces placed on red alert are located (Malaga and Tarragona), the authorities have anticipated the possible consequences of heavy rains by sending alert messages to mobile phones, the reception of which causes a loud beep.

Valencia authorities were heavily criticized for sending this warning message late on October 29: Aemet had placed the region on red alert in the morning, but many residents of the area were already underwater when the message has been transmitted.

Indignation against the authorities, accused of having poorly assessed the risks and of having delayed too long in the deployment of relief, gave rise to massive demonstrations on Saturday, the largest of which brought together 130,000 people in the city ​​of Valencia.

Also see on The HuffPost: