Weather
Sections
Highlight
Sections
Highlight
Five years have passed since the most unusual dawn of 23 January 2020, when storm Gloria woke up residents in Malaga at around 6.30am, sweeping through the city with heavy rains and a historic hailstorm that turned the streets of the central and eastern parts of the city white - an event so unusual for Malaga that it forced the activation of the local government's emergency plan.
The weather conditions were particularly challenging in the central and eastern areas, where roads were cut off and classes had to be suspended in some schools. The Paseo del Limonar, which was the most affected location, got covered in pieces of ice, the size of marbles, that reached a height of one metre. The white blanket also spread over courtyards of houses, pavements and pedestrian streets.
Storm Gloria made for some beautiful images in Malaga, especially in the centre and in the Montes de Málaga. Curiously, there was hardly any hail in the following areas: Cruz de Humilladero, Barbarela, Carretera de Cádiz, Carranque and Tiro de Pichón," said José Luis Escudero in his SUR blog 'Tormentas y Rayos'. He also recalled an event from another 23 January (this time in 1963), when hurricane gusts of east wind were recorded in the city and other areas of the Malaga province coastline, where they left considerable material damage.
At 9.39am during the hailstorm of 2020, Carmen Casero, delegate of the Junta de Andalucía at the time, activated the emergency plan for risk of floods in the provincial phase (situation 1) due to the heavy rainfall. This plan of action was repeated in Campanillas and in the PTA (Málaga TechPark), where the accumulation of rain and hail caused the Maqueda and Cantos streams to overflow, leading to major flooding and the road to Cártama being cut off. At the Casasola dam, Red Hidrosur had measured 96mm.
Between 6.30 and 7.30am on that day, two hailstorms were recorded and Spain's state meteorological agency (Aemet) raised the warning level for heavy rainfall to amber with up to 30mm expected to fall in one hour. The Aemet gauge at Malaga port measured 28mm in one hour. Within 12 hours, some 38mm had accumulated.
Malaga residents were quick to immortalise the event with photos and videos. The white landscape even reached the beach. Content of the rare sight soon flooded social media networks and WhatsApp chats.
Some traffic incidents were recorded, as traffic lights stopped working and because ice and flooding complicated the usual traffic flow. In fact, the Ronda Este ring road was completely blocked due to the buildup of ice on the access routes to the city via El Limonar, with conditions persisting until midday. (Read the report in Spanish published by SUR on that day).
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para suscriptores.
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados
¿Ya eres registrado?
Inicia sesiónNecesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.