Gota Fria hits Camposol in Mazarron municipality

A huge wave of water has washed away cars, swimming pools and possessions

This summer the region of Murcia has suffered an unusually warm and dry spell, and after eleven and a half months of the hydrological year there has now been just 36% of the usual rainfall across the Region of Murcia, making it the driest year since records of this nature were first kept in 1941.

Compounding the dry weather, the temperatures have been higher than normal, nearly 1 degree above the average across the summer and over three degrees warmer during the first two weeks of September.
Sea temperatures have risen, and the ground is baked hard and dry, meaning that the first rains of the autumn to fall have hit solid ground, running off into the streets and causing flooding in the central areas of the Murcia Region.

On Wednesday the state meteorological agency warned of impending storms and heavy rains, putting the region on a yellow storm alert, along with much of southern Spain, for Wednesday and Thursday.
Along the Mediterranean coastline storms in the autumn are the norm, but when conditions are right, the word Gota Fría comes into the equation, a mass of cold air pushing down from the north, colliding with the warm, moist air along the coastline, causing torrential, localized downpours.

Sea temperatures have been above average and councils have been preparing for these heavy storms in the full knowledge that when these localized storms hit, they dump torrential quantities of water into an area in a very short time, causing serious localized flooding.

This afternoon, one such storm broke right over the top of the D Sector on the Camposol Urbanisation in Mazarrón, causing widespread devastation.

Local residents told us that fiercely torrential rain drove them inside their homes, but as the rainfall started to abate, they heard a roar and grating sound as a river of churning water swept down through the centre of the D Sector, carrying cars, swimming pools and personal possessions in its wake.

D-7, D-8, D-13, D-17, D23 and D-27 are believed to be the worst affected and firecrews and police have blocked off the access to this sector until the waters recede.

Residents are known to be stranded inside their homes and at the moment the FAST rapid response medical service run by volunteers on the urbanisation say they have not received reports of any injuries or casualties.
A huge amount of damage has been done, however, to vehicles and the properties in this area, with extensive flooding, walls down and cars swept down the street.

For update later that night click, update midnight

Click for local information in the dedicated Camposol section

Images: Glen Ford, The Teapot, Mazarrón
More information to follow.