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The Casasola dam has not been able to keep up with the rising levels of the Campanillas river due to a clogging of the bottom outlet for releasing water. This has caused the activation of an emergency plan to evacuate 1,200 people (or 368 families) due to the risk of flooding. The relocation operation carried out around 5pm on Monday 17 March aimed to move people from the river area and parts of the Almogía district.
However, some chose to stay, moving to an upper floor of their houses. Among the reasons behind their decision to stay were their pets and the fear of their houses being looted. The number of the actual relocated population might vary, seeing as some of the houses were already empty, serving as the owners' second residence. In addition, classes in two Campanillas schools were suspended today: the Francisco Quevedo primary school and the Torre del Prado secondary school.
The amber alert for heavy rains was active until 6am today in Ronda, the Guadalhorce Valley and the Costa del Sol and until 9am in the Axarquía. The forecasts posed the question of evacuating residents of the lower part of Alhaurín de la Torre, but this was later ruled out.
Preventative evacuation was caried out in the La Isla, La Hacienda, La Perla and El Brillante areas, which have now been cut off. Houses between the Casasola dam and Las Tinajas area were not evacuated due to the lower risk and their location in higher points. However, the government is still monitoring the roads and the bridge.
Evacuation was carried out with each family's vehicle and with institutional assistance in the cases where people didn't have a car or needed mobility support.
Regional minister Antonio Sanz announced that the relocation operation started in time and was carried out according to plan, resulting in quick and efficient results in the face of the amber alert. He stated that the worse rains would start around 10pm and continue until the early hours of the morning, which gave the National Police and the Guardia Civil enough time to inform people and carry out the evacuation before the activation of the alert.
"Prevention is responsibility. To not have acted would have been imprudent," said the minister, adding that people had enough time to collect their belongings. "Most people have gone to the homes of relatives, but we have also created a shelter," said Sanz, highlighting that the risk factor has not been eliminated, given the continuous rain this week.
In addition, the city council of Malaga has set up a refuge and affiliation point in the Alfonso Queip de Llano pavilion, where assistants will take the data of the evacuees.
According to Aemet (Spain's state meteorological agency), the heaviest downpours were forecast for the early hours of Tuesday 18 March.
Malaga mayor Francisco de la Torre issued a warning and said: "Prevention is better than cure." According to him, during the heaviest of rainfalls, the Campanillas riverbed would accumulate between 250 and 280 cubic metres per second, if not more.
During the night after the evacuation, several Local and National Police teams remained in the evicted areas to prevent acts of vandalism and theft.
Theoretically, there is room for 21.72 million cubic metres in the Casasola dam - a figure that has now been exceeded, standing at 22 million cubic metres - 102% of its full capacity. There are horizontal openings in the dams, to allow water to be released. There is also a buffer level of between 2 and 3 million cubic metres before a state of complete overflow, which would cause a serious issue.
Sanz stated that the situation has been made more complicated by the dragging of vegetation, trunks, reeds and loose material, which prevent drainage. The murky waters hinder intervention by specialists. The minister explained that, until now, the situation had been successfully managed, but that the last rainy episode has forced a state of emergency.
"It's not anyone's fault. It simply doesn't stop raining," said Sanz.
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