Heavy rains drag numerous vehicles in Lorca | Spain

The Murcian town of Lorca and a good part of the Region of Murcia are suffering this Thursday that also affects the Valencian Community, southern Catalonia and Andalusia. Numerous vehicles have been dragged by the floods in the Murcian city, with flooded Ramblas and the channel of the Guadalentín River, a tributary of the safe, very growning as it passes through Lorca. The storm has already left 67.8 liters per square meter in just six hours, between 12 noon and 6 in the afternoon. The Aemet has raised the yellow to orange notice in Lorca until 9:59 p.m. and foresees rainfall up to 30 liters per square meter in an hour, and 120 in 12 hours that will occasionally be accompanied by storms. The Autonomous Community will request the declaration of seriously affected zone – which was previously known as the catastrophic zone – for the affected territories.

The firefighters from the Region of Murcia have worked on the rescue of at least one vehicle with a driver who had taken the Río Abajo de la Rambla Salada waters, and another woman has had to be rescued in the municipality of Cartagena. The woman rescued in Lorca had been trapped in her vehicle while driving along the Caravaca road as she passed through the Lorquina town. The car was dragged and ended up between two ramblas grown by strong rainfall. Emergencies received the warning after 14.30. After the rescue, the driver, who presented symptoms of hypothermia, has been taken to an accessible place for an ambulance and his medical staff, who lent him assistance in the place. The car of the rescued in Cartagena had been stranded in the middle of a rambla in a cultivation field between the Diputación de Santa Ana and the urban core of the city.

“Eight or nine bailouts have been carried out, but they are not missing,” said the mayor of the town, Fulgencio Gil, who in TVE has warned that the “situation is very bad”, although in a later message he has made a “call to calm.” “There are many incidents, but fortunately, nothing serious.” On public television, Gil has lamented that “in no case had a rain of that intensity and persistence was planned. He has not stopped raining from 10 in the morning. ” The first mayor has assured that there have been “many” material damage, both in private homes and on streets and roads where the water has opened the asphalt.

The City of Lorca has notified in networks that, in effect, there are numerous streets and cut roads, and has ordered to disassemble a weekly market in the area of ​​the Wheel garden. In addition, he has asked citizens to remain in their homes and do not take the car. The Consistory also informs that there are personnel of the 112 emergency service in the region in the urban area of ​​the city and some surrounding areas, such as La Hoya, Zamos de Ramos and Puntas de Calnegre. The T-711 road to Caravaca, on its crossing of Lorca, has been cut at the height of Altritar, when it is flooded, on the other hand, Civil Protection of Lorca has asked that the phone be left free to respond to emergencies in the municipality, the second largest in Spain, after that of Cáceres.

From the first hour of this morning, the Region of Murcia has activated the plan against flood floods and level 1 for accumulation of rainfall, for the municipalities of Caravaca de la Cruz, Cehegín, Bullas, Calasparra and Moratalla, all in the Northwest region, which has been the most affected by the rains during this morning, while this afternoon the greatest intensity is produced in the area of ​​Lorca. In this municipality, as in Águilas and the Guadalentín Valley, as well as in the Northwest region, the State Meteorology Agency has expanded the orange notice until 10 pm on Thursday. In the rest of the Autonomous Community, the notices are already deactivated, although the forecast is to continue raining in the next few hours.

The Government of the Autonomous Community, in coordination with the municipalities, has decided to suspend classes and activity in the centers of older and people with disabilities for tomorrow in the Northwest region and the Guadalentín Valley. The affected municipalities are: Bullas, Calasparra, Caravaca de la Cruz, Moratalla, Lorca, Puerto Lumbreras, Águilas, Aledo, Totana and Alhama de Murcia. The teaching activity and for the elderly and with disabilities in Cehegín and Mazarrón are also suspended.

Throughout Wednesday and until 6 pm on Thursday a total of 448 calls corresponding to 427 issues related to the effects of wind and rain have been received at the Emergency Coordination Center in various areas of the region. Most of these issues have to do with traffic problems, basically obstacles on the road or roads (137), followed by water shrine (56) and several assists due to water accumulation (26). Most calls by municipalities have been in Murcia (103), Lorca (96), Cartagena (51), Cehegín (23), Totana (22), Caravaca (19).

The president of the region, Fernando López Miras, has announced hours before visiting the town of the suspension of classes this afternoon in Lorca in the Vocational Training Centers, the Conservatory of Music, the Official School of Languages, the Night Baccalaureate, and the Adult Education Centers, as well as its extensions in the municipalities of Puerto Lumbreras and Águilas. The social centers of the elderly of the town Lorquina, of 98,000 inhabitants, and of Mazarrón have also been closed. The schools of the five municipalities of the Northwest region affected by the rains have also had their classes suspended today, and have been the ones that have registered the greatest destruction due to heavy rains.

The worst stop has been the municipality of (14,400 inhabitants), where the intensity of the rain has cast down the wall of a school pavilion, although without causing injuries. The facilities were empty thanks to the suspension of classes from early in the morning. In addition, the two rivers that run through the areas of the Ceheginera orchard, the Argos and El Quípar, which have forced to cut several roads that connect the town with the distances. In the last 24 hours, the town has accumulated 231 liters per square meter, according to Aemet, a daily record since September 1997. In this Murcian town it is already the most rainy March since there are records. The mayor, Alicia del Amor, has affirmed that the situation has been “chaotic” and that she will request the declaration of catastrophic zone, reports from Cehegín M. Victoria S. Nadal. The Salvador Barranco, on the outskirts of the population, the regional president has visited the town on Thursday and has asked for “tranquility and prudence” to the neighbors.

Throughout the rest of the municipalities of that region there are numerous secondary roads and cut roads, and there have been important floods in the channels of the Mula, Quípar and Argos rivers, which have registered overflows in some of their sections, so it is recommended to avoid displacements in those locations.

The Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) has issued two hydrological alerts throughout the day, in the Rambla del Albujón (narrow well) and in the Rambla de las Moreras (Mazarrón), some notices that do not imply the immediate overflow of those Ramblas, but are generated in advance to be prevented from the population, according to its president, Mario Urea, Mario Urea. The Confederation has also proceeded to the controlled drainage in the Azud de Ojós, which accumulated a large flow of 50 cubic meters per second.