The national meteorological agency (Aemet) has issued a code red warning, the maximum level, valid for the provinces of Malaga (south) and Tarragona (northeast), amid a new episode of the “cold drop” phenomenon, an isolated high-altitude depression quite common in autumn on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
New torrential rains fell on Wednesday in the south and east of Spain, again raising fears among victims, just two weeks after the devastating floods that left at least 223 dead, mainly in the Valencia region, reports AFP.
The national meteorological agency (Aemet) has issued a code red warning, the maximum level, valid for the provinces of Malaga (south) and Tarragona (northeast), amid a new episode of the “cold drop” phenomenon, an isolated high-altitude depression quite common in autumn on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
In areas placed under code red, located on the coast, almost 120 to 180 liters of precipitation per square meter (120 to 180 millimeters) could accumulate in the next few hours, according to Aemet. Precipitation will continue to fall until Thursday.
Heavy, but less heavy, rain is also expected in the Valencia region, affected by the floods of October 29, where many of the canals are still clogged with mud.
Residents of the region are still struggling to cope with the enormous damage caused by this tragedy. “We’ve already lost our cars, we’ve already lost a large part of our houses and we’re out of work. Therefore, we have nothing left to lose,” a resident of Picana, a town with 11,000 inhabitants located in the suburbs of Valencia, told the regional television station A Punt Carlos Molto.
The neighboring town, Paiporta, considered the epicenter of the tragedy of October 29, was affected by new floods, according to the newspaper Las Provincias. In this locality, still devastated, the residents set up improvised barricades made of earth bags in front of the doors of the houses.
As a precautionary measure, several municipalities in the region asked the thousands of volunteers who come daily to help residents clear the streets not to go to the affected areas on Wednesday.
The new rains could disrupt the search for the 17 people who are still missing, according to the authorities. Operations are mainly concentrated around watercourses and on the coast, at the mouths of rivers.
In Andalusia and Catalonia, where the provinces placed under code red are located (Malaga and Tarragona), the authorities anticipated the possible consequences of heavy rains by sending alert messages to mobile phones, the reception of which causes a loud sound.
“Be especially cautious, avoid travel and follow the advice” of the emergency services, it was written in the alert message sent to Malaga.
The authorities in Valencia were heavily criticized for sending such an alert message too late on October 29. Aemet had placed the region under code red in the morning of that day, but when the authorities sent the message to the residents’ phones, the area was already under water.
The indignation against the authorities, accused of not having properly assessed the risks and of delaying the interventions too much, gave rise, on Saturday, to massive demonstrations, the largest of which brought together 130,000 people, in the city of Valencia.
The red code issued by Aemet, corresponding to meteorological phenomena of “exceptional intensity”, with “a very high level of risk for the population”, also led the authorities to suspend classes, on Wednesday, in most of Catalonia and in cities Andalusians such as Granada and Malaga.
In the region of Valencia, this new episode of the “cold drop” phenomenon caused waves over four meters high in coastal areas and led the authorities to close traffic on certain roads and suspend some railway services. Maritime traffic was suspended in the ports of Valencia and Sagunto.
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
