Preparing for the stormy season
Residents asked 'to do their bit' over rubbish
THE ANNUAL cleaning and maintenance works on rainwater drainage systems have started in many coastal towns in Alicante province and Murcia region.
Town halls and river authorities are taking action before possible storms arrive in south-eastern Spain at the end of the summer and beginning of the autumn.
In Orihuela, the main ravines and the Monte San Miguel near the city are being targeted. Councillor for street cleaning and the environment, Dámaso Aparicio said plastic bottles, rubble, old furniture and weeds and other detritus were being removed.
He stressed that some of the ravines run directly into the city and have to be free of waste in order to reduce damage from heavy rain.
He noted that the Río Nacimiento and Río Seco watercourses in Orihuela Costa are set to be cleaned up by the Segura river and water authority (CHS), and asked residents to do their bit by keeping the natural watercourses and ravines free of rubbish.
Orihuela was one of the worst hit areas by last September’s torrential storms, which caused widespread flooding in the Vega Baja
At Los Alcázares, El Albujón watercourse is being cleaned and the drainage channels behind the air force academy and the fire station and La Dorada urbanisation are being improved.
At the Mar Menor, the CHS has offered councils a €3 million grant for building works to protect public facilities from flooding.
However, the proposal has been labelled ‘insufficient’ by town halls and the regional government, who have asked for more ambitious works to protect the towns from the run-off water that comes over the fields inland.
The platform of flood victims from Los Alcázares, Saldremos A Flote has launched several campaigns to protest against their ‘abandonment’ by the regional and national authorities, and has warned that their homes and businesses are at serious risk every time there is heavy rain.
They have launched a petition campaign on
Change.org to force the authorities to invest the money needed to build protection infrastructure.
Los Alcázares has been flooded five times in the last six years.