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Date Published: 23/05/2023

Heavy rain and thunderstorms cause damage and destruction in Almeria

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Landslides, road closures and flooding in Almeria as the Andalucía province suffers extensive storm damage

Heavy rain and thunderstorms cause damage and destruction in Almeria

The rainstorms battering the province of Almeria and the rest of southern Spain this week left about 40 incidents in different parts of the province, including two accidents that have required people to be transferred to hospital.

There was also a missing man in Cuevas del Almanzora, who has thankfully now been located.

The rain in Andalucía is forecast to continue on and off for the whole week.

As confirmed by the 112 emergency service, there have been floods in basements, courtyards and houses in Albox, Cuevas del Almanzora, El Ejido and Vera, where five people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure.

You may also like: 5 expert tips to ensure your Spanish home is flood proof

There have also been flooded roads, including the Retamar in Almería, the A-1101 in Zurgena, the AL-3106 in Níjar and the AL-5106 in Carboneras. However, none of these roads had to be closed off to traffic.

Landslides were recorded on the AL-3115 in Níjar and the AL-6101 in Purchena, and the outflow of a watercourse forced the AL-6112 road in Carboneras to be cut off.

Meanwhile, according to other sources, it was reported late on Monday that the Puente de la Molina, at the Los Gallardos exit on the N-340, was cut.

There have also been cuts in the Rambla del Charco, in the accesses to Costacabana, as well as the road between Vera and Palomares.

On the access roads to Cabo de Gata, although there have been no cuts, there have been pockets of water, and motorists are advised to drive with caution.

Related: How to drive safely through flood water in Spain

In addition, there have been incidents in La Almadraba de Monteleva that have meant the Fire Service had to be called out to assist.

There have been two traffic accidents, one in the capital of Almería, where a delivery driver collided with a manhole and had to be evacuated to hospital, although he was not seriously injured, and another in Tíjola, where a car fell into a ravine.

All the occupants of the vehicle were able to get out and two of them, an 18-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man, were injured and taken to hospital in Baza (Granada).

Emergency services also intervened to help the occupants of a car in the river Almanzora in the hamlet of El Alhanchete, another in a ravine in Pulpí and a caravan in Villaricos.

Read also: What to do if your car is caught in a flood in Spain

Finally, in the town of Cuevas del Almanzora, a man who had disappeared this morning was found in perfect condition, although he was trapped in the mud on the beach of Quitapellejos, without requiring medical assistance.

The rains were particularly heavy in several parts of the municipality of Cuevas, where up to 340 litres of water per square metre fell, which meant that “part of the sewage system could not cope with this amount of water,” according to the mayor of Cuevas del Almanzora, Antonio Fernández.

“We spent three critical and complicated hours, with many incidents,” said the mayor, who accompanied the Local Police, Guardia Civil and Levante Fire Brigade until the early hours of the morning, thanking them for “all the efforts” they had made in the last few hours, including to extinguish a fire to a transformer.

Although it is still too early to estimate the damage caused by this new storm, the mayor of Cuevas del Almanzora has said that the municipality “will ask for aid” from the supra-municipal administrations to meet the costs of the necessary repairs.

Now read: How to make an insurance claim if your property is flooded or water damaged

Image 1: @E112Andalucia/Twitter

Image 2: Diputación Almería

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