ARCHIVED - New gota fría brings heavy rain to Murcia but no serious flooding as yet

The rain could become heavier in the Campo de Cartagena on Tuesday morning

As had been forecast steady and at times heavy rain arrived in the Region of Murcia on Monday night and in the early hours of Tuesday morning, but in nothing like the quantities recorded a little over a month ago during the huge “gota fría” storm of mid-September and with no reports of serious flooding – so far!

By 9.00 in the morning the CHS and Aemet were reporting around 20 millimetres of rain in a range of locations across the Region, the highest figures according to the CHS being 21.4 mm in Zarzadilla de Totana, 20.3 in El Albujón and 19.9 mm in San Javier while Aemet report 32 millimetres in La Manga del Mar Menor.

Of particular concern to residents of the towns on the inland shore of the Mar Menor, and to those monitoring water quality in the lagoon, will be the figure in El Albujón, from where water runs down the “rambla” (natural floodwater channel) into the Mar Menor. This entails not only a risk of flooding, as was the case in Los Nietos, Los Alcázares, San Javier and other towns a month ago, but also the arrival of large quantities of nitrates and other harmful substances which are held responsible for the death of tens of thousands of fish and crustaceans which were washed up on the shore ten days ago.

Furthermore, although the Costa Cálida is expected to be spared the worst of the latest gota fría the rain is expected to intensify during the morning in the Campo de Cartagena.

In consequence, Aemet are maintaining their yellow alert warning for rainfall totalling up to 60 millimetres (and up to 20 mm in an hour) in almost the whole of the Region of Murcia until 14.00. At the same time the change in the weather has brought with it a significant drop in temperatures, with maximums on Tuesday expected to reach no higher than 12 degrees in Yecla, 13 in Caravaca de la Cruz amd 16 or 17 in Cartagena, Lorca and the city of Murcia.

Further north, meanwhile, in parts of northern Catalunya close to the border with France a red alert has been issued with the possibility of as much as 180 millimetres of rain, accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds, during the day.

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