ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 4th October 2019

The aftermath of the gota fría storm dominates the news as normality gradually returns, at least on land…

Town Halls count the cost, long-term flood prevention measures are sought, some Mar Menor beaches remain out of bounds and swarms of mosquitos emerge from stagnant floodwater

It is now three weeks since the massive “gota fría” which brought the worst flooding in 50 years to the Region of Murcia, but despite the weather having been dry, sunny and warm throughout the intervening period - Tuesday was the second hottest October day on record in Murcia at 34.8 degrees - the event is still making headlines in the aftermath of the crisis.

In Los Alcázares, one of the towns worst affected by the flooding, the Town Hall is now confident enough to have said goodbye to many of the emergency services workers who have been helping to restore normality in the municipality, and has requested the withdrawal of all remaining regional government personnel. At the start of the week the last of the local schools finally re-opened, but unfortunately damp and mould on the walls of the Petra Sánchez Rollán primary school led to it closing again after parents and teaching staff complained, and the start of the new school year has been further delayed as a result for around 600 pupils.

Still in Los Alcázares, as the authorities demand that strategies be drawn up to avoid more flooding in the future after the second such disaster in under three years, the CHS water authorities have not ruled out the possibility of expropriating properties in the centre of the town restore original floodwater channel. Aerial photographs from 1927 show that the Rambla de la Maraña used to flow through what is now built-up land, and this would perhaps be one way to alleviate the problem.

But other infrastructures are also being held at least partly to blame, with the AP-7 motorway effectively forming a barrier to water which would previously have followed its natural course towards the coast, and the local Mayor, Mario Cervera, announced during the week that he intends to claim damages from the government and the motorway construction company on the grounds that the road acts as a dam.

Sr Cervera is one of those to have called a protest march in Los Alcázares and Torre Pacheco in a couple of weeks’ time in order to demand action, while a second demonstration has been called on 30^th October in Cartagena under the slogan of “SOS Mar Menor”, this time demanding a comprehensive raft of measures to protect and regenerate the marine environment of the lagoon.

3,700 cubic metres of gota fría debris had been cleared from Mar Menor beaches by Monday, and no doubt when King Felipe VI visits the area on Friday afternoon he will be impressed by the rapidity of the clean-up. In many ways the situation on land is almost back to normal, (although obviously there are still many problems to be resolved) but the effects of the runoff water on the beaches and the water quality in the sea are still a source of a great deal of uncertainty, particularly in the Mar Menor.

Bathing is either banned or not recommended at various beaches in the southern half of the lagoon, due not only to the presence of debris in the water, the disappearance of sand from the shore and the difficulties of accessing the water, but also to the unusually high levels of the enterococcus bacterium detected in the water. This bacterium inhabits the human intestine and its presence appears to indicate that untreated sewage has somehow made its way into the Mar Menor during the storm.

As a result, while the beaches on the Mediterranean coast of Murcia are now open, safe and, in the eyes of many people, at their very best at this time of year, with the water warm and generally calm and the crowds of summer having disappeared, there are still concerns about the advisability of bathing from some beaches: click here for details on those which remain out of bounds and those where bathing is not recommended.

Another problem associated with the gota fría is that mosquito eggs and larvae laid in stagnant floodwater are now emerging as insects, bringing about numerous complaints and great inconvenience in various areas. Empty holiday homes add to the problems along the coast as stagnant surface water is not cleared, and this week the Town Halls intensifying their spraying and fumigation campaigns have included Mazarrón, where there have been numerous sightings of the Asian tiger mosquito, San Javier, where the areas targeted include swimming pools in Roda and Roda Golf, and Cartagena, where a large-scale spraying operation is taking place around the southern end of the Mar Menor and the problem is being exacerbated by farmers spreading compost in the fields.

As the arguments begin over who should pay the repair costs after the flood damage, the Murcia government has raised its estimate of the amount needed to 590 million euros, including the losses incurred by agriculturalists, cattle farmers and fish farms as well as those suffered in terms of public infrastructures and privately owned property. A regional government spokesperson reported that the Murcia authorities managed the emergency “brilliantly” and that now “the State must assume its responsibilities and establish a line of subsidies to compensate for all of the losses”, adding that the insurance compensation consortium which is administering the claims made believes that approximately 12,000 homes and 5,000 motor vehicles have suffered damage.

As the fund-raising to help victims goes on, it has been announced that FC Barcelona are to play a friendly match in Cartagena with all proceeds from ticket sales being donated to the victims. The match is on 17^th November, but ticket prices have not yet been confirmed.

Image: Felipe VI in Orihuela prior to his visit to Los Alcázares on Friday afternoon

Meanwhile, from a meteorological point of view it will come as no surprise that as a result of the gota fría September 2019 was the third wettest month on record in Murcia, with numerous rainfall records broken. The wettest of the Aemet weather stations were those in Molina de Segura (374 millimetres) and La Manga del Mar Menor (335 millimetres), almost all of which fell between 12^th and 14^th September, and on 12^th September Cartagena, Cieza, Murcia and Alcantarilla all recorded more rain than ever before in just one day!

Other items in the Murcia and Spanish news

Corvera airport winter flight schedule to feature 11 regular services: routes to and from Belgium and the Canaries are added while others disappear for the winter.

Woman detained in Cantabria after a human head was found in a box: the suspected murderess left the head of her former partner in the “safe keeping” of a neighbour, claiming the box contained “delicate objects”. The smell indicated otherwise!

Alhama Town Hall replaces plastic cups and cutlery and the local fiesta on 7th October: the council sets a good example in the fight to reduce single-use plastics.

4 Iberian lynx killed by hunters in Toledo: ecologists bemoan a lack of protection for the highly endangered species in Castilla-La Mancha.

Flu vaccination campaign to begin in Murcia on 28th October: 245,000 doses of the vaccine will be available at health centres from the end of this month.

Dismay in Murcia and the rest of Spain at the latest batch of Trump trade tariffs: wine, olive oil and lemon producers in Murcia are among those affected as Spain calculates the cost to exporters.

Spanish inflation rate falls to just above zero: the provisional data for September show a year-on-year rise of only 0.1 per cent.

250 Algerian migrants to be deported after arriving in Murcia: the central government delegate to the Region promises a new migrant detention centre in the port of Cartagena after the latest wave of Algerians stretched existing facilities beyond their limit. So far this year there have been 619 African migrants arriving in Murcia as opposed to 599 in the first nine months of 2018, including 167 in just a few days last week.

Tension builds again in Catalunya two years after the outlawed independence referendum: separatists advocate civil disobedience as the Supreme Court verdict is awaited on various of their leaders.

Driver seriously injured in Islas Menores crash: the car being driven by the 34-year-old overturned at a roundabout on the road to Los Nietos.

Murcia government debt reaches new all-time high: the regional government owes almost 10,000,000,000 euros!

Man arrested outside Murcia after his father was found dead in a well: no motive has been identified for what is being treated as murder by the police.

UK residents in Spain to need TIE identity cards after Brexit: if no withdrawal agreement is signed the cards, which will substitute the green certificates currently held by many expats, will have to be renewed every two years. Once again the Spanish government offers more information than the UK government…

Visitors from the UK to Spain spent 3.4 million euros PER HOUR in August! Fewer visitors from the UK but more money spent as Brits account for over 21 per cent of the total.

Spanish government to fund treatment to help smokers kick the habit: varenicline is a pharmaceutical product which reduces both craving and the "pleasurable" effects of cigarettes.

10 baby loggerhead sea turtles born on a Costa Cálida beach relocated to Valencia: the tiny turtles, the first to hatch in Murcia in well over a century, will be nurtured at the Oceanogràfic centre for a year before being released into the wild.

Leroy Merlin store to open in San Pedro del Pinatar on 30th October: a fourth store in the Region of Murcia joins those in the outskirts of Cartagena and Murcia.

September unemployment figures in Spain show seasonal increase: the jobless total in Murcia has fallen by over 6 per cent in the last year and the figure went down again in September.

Jumilla wineries anticipate top quality 2019 grape harvest: quantity is down by as much as 20 per cent but the quality of grape is reported to be excellent.

Murcia produces 27 million chickens per year! The sector has enjoyed 30 per cent growth in the last 3 years according to a regional government minister.

Second burglar arrested in Puerto de Mazarrón in under a month: the stolen goods recovered from the seasoned criminal in the Bahía area amount to one basketball hoop!

Contract awarded to build Lorca-Totana high-speed rail line at a cost of 4,440 euros per metre: the 13-kilometre stretch will form part of the 200-km Murcia-Almería line and was been awarded for precisely 59,277,633.41 euros.

Murcia and Spanish property news

The main news in the real estate market this week was provided by the latest figures regarding mortgage activity, which showed that in July the number of new loans registered on housing was 13.1 per cent higher than in the same month last year, reaching 33,334.

This indicates that lending against property is continuing to prosper with attractive interest rates available and banks confident of lending against current market value, and in the Region of Murcia the July figures were especially eye-catching. The total of 907 was higher than in any month since January 2012, registering a 7½-year high, and the running 12-monthly totals are now 79 per cent higher in Murcia than in the spring of 2014 and 103 per cent higher in the whole of Spain!

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See full background information for the Murcia Gota Fria 2019.