Flood damage across Murcia region estimated at 57 million euros

This excludes the damage suffered by private home-owners and businesses

The regional government has issued a provisional estimation of the damage caused at the weekend by the storms at 57 million euros.

Regional spokesperson, Noelia Arroyo, said that this was the provisional figure reached after consultation with the municipal councils affected by the events of the weekend, and that the figure would be subject to constant re-evaluation as more detailed studies examined the full extent of the damage.

The regional government, she said, had been in close communication with many different departments of each of the councils, responding first to the preliminary emergency needs of each municipality, and dealing with the different areas affected such as education, health centres, public transport, roads etc.

All schools, she said, had re-opened, except those in the Los Alcázares municipality which would remain closed until after the festive season.

The agricultural sector recorded the largest losses, particularly those businesses working in the campo de Cartagena where  the majority of the green leaf winter salad crops which are mainly exported to Europe, table greens such as broccoli, spinach , acelga and celery, and potatoes have been lost.

The total loss across an area covering some 10,000 hectares, is estimated at 30 million euros.

Other costs associated with the flooding relate to the replacement and repair of the total infrastructure transporting sewage, handling water drainage and water processing which is likely to be in the region of nine million euros. A lot of damage occurred to the pipework when the volume of water was simply too great to handle. In some cases roads have sunk, breaking pipes, or been washed away, the filtrations provoking earth movements which have caused damage beneath the surface, prinicipally in the area around the Mar Menor.

Five million euros worth of damage has occurred in schools, 4.7 million euros worth in the 74 kilometres of rural roads in the Campo de Cartagena which have been damaged, 2.7 million euros worth in health centres and hospitals, and 2 million allocated for repairs to non-rural roads.

The regional government continues to work with the councils in the affected zones to achieve a declaration of natural  castastrophe, which will help to pay for the cost of repair works.

The figures given do not take into consideration the losses incurred by businesses and private individuals.
112 emergency services have answered over 4,000 call-outs since the rain first started to fall on Friday, although by Wednesday normal services had resumed in most areas, the Cartagena- Murcia  railway was once again operational, schools re-opened, the airport operating normally and nearly all roads once again open.

Image: Copyrighted. Efe Marcial Guillén. Full or partial reproduction prohibited