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MALAGA.
Friday, 21 March 2025, 14:36
This week it was the turn of Storm Laurence to cause havoc in parts of Malaga province, in particular the lower Guadalhorce valley around Cártama and the Campanillas river, a tributary of it.
In Campanillas, some 1,200 people were temporarily evacuated on Monday night as the Casasola reservoir upstream started to overflow. There were also incidents in many other areas including Almogía and San Pedro in Marbella. On Wednesday, a 61-year-old motorcyclist went missing, swept away by the swollen Genal river in the Serranía de Ronda.
The Cártama districts of Doña Ana and Molino Carvajal were among the worst at risk of flooding. Here locals said they had never seen the Guadalhorce river as high for so long.
Meanwhile, in Campanillas, water and mud rushed into garages and houses in the area of the main road. The flood, even though not as destructive, reminded residents of the one in 2020. Memories of badly damaged homes and furniture back then kept people awake for several nights.
Locals in both areas have called again for proper maintenance of the nearby dams and regular river clean-ups in order for future floods to be prevented.
Aurora Junquera, a resident of the Doña Ana neighbourhood in Cártama, was one of the people who was evacuated. She said, "It rained so much that the whole plot was flooded. We started to take the water out as best as we could, but it suddenly started to come in so fast that I already have more than half a metre in my house."
"It has been a very distressing time," she said, relieved that her daughter and her grandson were not there when the flooding started. They also managed to relocate their four dogs and shelter their horse.
Cártama mayor Jorge Gallardo said that the river caught them off-guard. "It is the first time that it has been overflowing for so long. The level has not dropped and it has been like this for three or four hours," he said on Tuesday morning.
On Thursday, the Guardia Civil found the motorcycle of the missing 61-year-old man in Pujerra, who was swept away by the current of the Genal river while attempting to cross it. Authorities in the Serranía de Ronda found the vehicle near the spot where the man fell, buried under a metre and a half of sediment, including rocks and logs, according to sources.
The search continued on Friday with a Guardia Civil helicopter and drones.
Following the activation of an emergency plan for evacuation in the Campanillas river area on Monday evening, another relocation operation took place, this time close to San Pedro Alcántara in Marbella. The residents of eight houses in Los Pinos, in Cortijo Blanco, close to San Pedro promenade, were evacuated due to the overflow of the Guadaiza river.
Here the height of the water on nearby streets quickly reached 40 centimetres. Persistent downpours were recorded in the mountains and in the Benahavís area, causing water to be released from the Guadalmansa, Guadalmina and Guadaiza dams. The flood left behind damaged vehicles, infrastructure and houses. The road bridge that connects the two sides of the Guadaiza river was affected and several cars in the riverside parking of the Cortijo Blanco apartments were filled with water. The mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz, visited the scene and thanked emergency workers for their efforts.
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