Heavy rain causes flooding
Riverbank reinforced in Almoradí as water levels rose
ALICANTE province and the Mar Menor area were placed on alert for heavy rain and high winds on Monday night and Tuesday by state weather agency AEMET.
However, once again the town worst affected by flooding was Los Alcázares on the Mar Menor.
The local authorities hit out at AEMET for issuing an alert ‘when it was too late to take effective measures’.
According to mayor Mario Pérez Cervera, the orange warning was declared at 06.45 on Tuesday morning, even though it had been raining through the night.
Roads were already being hit by flooding and the watercourses were full of water.
Council and street cleaning company employees worked to keep drainage systems clear and some residents in the town centre and the sports hall area started to block off the entrances to their homes and garages with small brick walls.
That morning La Maraña and La Colonia watercourses overflowed and covered the town centre and the sports hall area with water and mud from inland fields.
In Cartagena council workers, forestry guards and the navy pumped water away from flooded areas.
State news agency EFE reported that two people had to be rescued from their car by firemen when they were trapped by flood water at Algameca Chica, near Cartagena.
A number of minor roads around the Mar Menor area and at Los Montesinos were temporarily closed due to flooding.
These included the junction of the N-332 and the AP7 motorway at Dos Mares shopping centre in San Pedro del Pinatar, the entrance to San Javier from the AP-7 motorway at the Mercedes Benz car dealership, and the road to El Mojón to San Pedro del Pinatar.
Local police in Orihuela Costa closed off access to La Glea watercourse at Campoamor, the road under the N332 tunnel at Playa Flamenca, Calle Gerardo Rueda and Calle Paraná, and the access to La Zenia beach area due to the water which accumulated.
According to MeteOrihuela, nearly 125 litres per square metre (l/m2) of rain was recorded in Cox in the Vega Baja on Monday and Tuesday – 100 l/m2 in Almoradí, 82 l/m2 in Ciudad Quesada, Rojales and 75 l/m2 in Torrevieja and Pilar de la Horadada.
The Segura river and water authority (CHS) reported on Tuesday that they were reinforcing the riverbank in Almoradí, where the river burst its banks in September.
This was to ‘prevent water filtering though’.
A CHS spokesman said they had passed information on to the town hall ‘so they could inform residents about the measures they were taking’.