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Malaga authorities urge ‘extreme caution’ as 4,000 people evacuated
by Liv Clarke · Manchester Evening NewsThousands of people remain evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region of Spain as floods swept through the region on Tuesday. Malaga was battered by intense rainfall on Tuesday, November 14, with residents along the Guadalhorce river evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure.
The area was placed under a red alert for heavy rain by Aemet, Spain’s national weather agency, and although the warnings have since been lifted there is still an 80 per cent chance of rain in the region. The Regional Government of Andalusia has announced that 4,210 people remain outside of their homes in the areas closest to the river.
Most of these have been relocated to the homes of relatives and friends, or to hotels. Overnight the emergency services managed a total of 244 incidents, including up to 22 people which were rescued in Malaga.
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Emergency services have urged people to take “extreme caution” in the area and follow self protection guidelines to prevent risks and ensure people’s safety. People are urged to avoid travelling by road unless it is “essential”, not to park near riverbeds even if dry and to avoid walking along promenades in coastal areas.
According to the Regional Government, Malaga Airport has returned to normal however some roads remain closed due to flooding. Schools have been closed in the area today.
(Image: Getty Images)
Aemet, Spain’s national weather agency, has issued further amber and yellow alerts for rain for parts of southern Spain today, including Seville, Cadiz and Huelva. Amber warnings are also in force for Valencia, which is still recovering from devastating floods which killed more than 220 people two weeks ago.
One British expat who lives in the town Benamargosa, around 40 minutes from Malaga, told The Independent how it was “decimated” when the river burst its banks. Andrew Poole said: “At teatime yesterday, the river itself burst its banks right in the heart of the village ... the emergency services, the locals, everyone’s pulling together, working all the way through the night just trying to clear some of the roads in and out so people who have been trapped by the floodwaters, the emergency services can get in to see them. Everyone’s houses, businesses [have been] fully decimated. It’s just so sad.”
The heavy rains in Spain have been caused by a Dana, a weather phenomenon where warm and cold air masses collide at high altitude, causing instability and resulting in heavy rain. It’s the same phenomenon that led to the flash floods in Valencia two weeks ago.