Murcia on Red Alert as torrential rain floods streets across the Region

[royandsharont]

Just read this in today’s Spanish news. My heart goes out to my friends there & anyone visiting.

HERE

 

[Al n Val]

We had the government red weather warning yesterday in Alcossebre and boy were they correct

Last night about 8pm ish it started the best thunder and lightening show we’ve ever seen which stopped around 4am next morning

The rain was torrential and we moved to an higher pitch this morning at 9am as ours was flooded

It took us around 3 hours to move and clean up, us being in the bottom corner def caught the brunt of it, it’s washed tons of surface stone down the site and I mean possibly 5/6tonnes

It’s been cloudy all day up to an hour ago and now it’s lovely blue skies and sunny

The storm is moving south apparently so funsters beware if your in its path

 

[gus-lopez]

We were supposed to be inundated but haven't really seen anything. Sun was out here from 3pm onwards. I went to the other side of Totana around 5pm & it was raining on & off , grey & grim also.

 

[jumar]

We were supposed to be inundated but haven't really seen anything. Sun was out here from 3pm onwards. I went to the other side of Totana around 5pm & it was raining on & off , grey & grim also.

You've had your fair share in the past Richard...other parts of Murcia and Castila la Mancha have been hit hard...

 

[John AA]

I follow Spainweather on Facebook, it gives information without being too dramatic, and also the site it links to meteo365.es which looks to give coverage of Europe.

Thoufhts and prayers to all caught up in the extreme weather.

Spainweather | Málaga

Spainweather, Málaga. 91,168 followers · 9,489 talking about this. Your weather channel for Spain, Europe and the World. Spainweather is part of www.meteo365.es

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[Mickey1]

We were about to move from Peniscola to Los Alcazares, guess it’s a change of plan.

 

[scotzsue]

Friends are moving to Los Alcazares it's been on the cards for a few years. Think they were going toda. not a great welcome to their new home.
Our favourite area of Spain, hoping all are safe.

 

[Al n Val]

We were about to move from Peniscola to Los Alcazares, guess it’s a change of plan.

Mickey1

We’re just 30mins south of you and it’s hammering down

We have family at La Marina now and it’s lovely and sunny

The coast from Santa Pola down looks clear and my mate is at Almerimar and it’s beautiful he says

 

[gus-lopez]

We had some light rain early this morning which stopped before 8am. Sun has been out & just cloudy at the moment?

 

[Al n Val]

We had some light rain early this morning which stopped before 8am. Sun has been out & just cloudy at the moment?

May I ask where you are Richard

No probs if you’d rather not say

 

[Solwaybuggier]

We were supposed to be inundated but haven't really seen anything. Sun was out here from 3pm onwards. I went to the other side of Totana around 5pm & it was raining on & off , grey & grim also.

We got an emergency alert on our phones the other night for a red weather warning - it related specifically to an area just south of Tarragona, we’re in Pineda de Mar, about 2 hours drive away.

It did make me wonder whether the Spanish authorities are a bit trigger happy with warnings and alerts at the moment, a bit like the Met Office were after Michael Fish’s infamous “no tornado “ moment. It would be quite understandable after the horrendous weather problems there have been this year.

 

[royandsharont]

Friends are moving to Los Alcazares it's been on the cards for a few years. Think they were going toda. not a great welcome to their new home.
Our favourite area of Spain, hoping all are safe.

We spent 15 years visiting different parts of Spain each time, twice a year, spending 2/3 weeks in private apartments & houses looking for where to settle in Spain and Los Alcazares was our place of choice for many reasons. Unfortunately we decided not to stay permanently and came home after 18 months but then bought the motorhome.

 

[gus-lopez]

May I ask where you are Richard

No probs if you’d rather not say

As per my avatar .I live in Lorca, Murcia.

 

[Lenny HB]

Are you OK Harvey Carpmart I see the report said streets of Los Alcázares were flooded.

 

[Carpmart]

We had a torrid afternoon and evening battling surface flood water yesterday in our home in Los Alcázares…

221 litres per sq meter meant we have between two and 2.5 feet of water outside our garage. Luckily the flood barrier largely did its job, but we still had to empty an estimated 3000 litres of water from our downstairs in just under seven hours… we are both physically broken today. Friends tried to come over to help but couldn’t safely get to us.

I’ve got a plan for a sump and float activated pump

that I will install in the coming weeks.

The pictures were from early in proceedings. Didn’t have time for any after that. We had a total of three phone blast Red emergency warnings, the last saying get to top floor of buildings as the towns flood defences were about to breach. Luckily they didn’t.

 

[Carpmart]

Are you OK Harvey Carpmart I see the report said streets of Los Alcázares were flooded.

Thanks Lenny… had a tough day but we are over that and I have a plan to minimise risk in the future.

 

[DBK]

I was about to make a light-hearted comment that we arrive in Santander on Monday and after hearing about the weather we've packed our wellies.

But after hearing about Carpmart 's grim experience there'll be no jokes from me.

It looks unsettled throughout Spain for the next week. We'll be driving south in search of sun and warmth whether we find these remains to be seen.

 

[Al n Val]

This was our entrance this morning, so much rain coming in it’s carved a channel into the surface of stone

This was our pitch up to yesterday morning when we decided to abandon ship and moved further up the site

Took us about 3 hours to clean everything up so we’re sorted now. We’ve had about another 18hrs of rain overnight/morning but it’s more or less stopped about 45mins ago

Heyho!

 

[Nigel Crompton]

Didn't do much in the vicinity of Los Olivos camperstop here in Cuesta Blanca. About 3 hours of steady but not torrential rain - just enough to wet the fields to let me burn a load of garden trash - which didn't impress some Dutch campers ....

 

[gus-lopez]

Sorry to see you have been flooded again & hope you can clean up easily

I constructed a metal one similar across our lounge doorway & it slides in to the reja after the weight of water pushed in the bottom of the aluminium door when we were slightly flooded back in 2012.
I would have screwed the door shut from inside ,that is if I had been able to get in to the house. Both access doors to our house, lounge & front door, face south.There was at the time no other entry or exit from the house.
I had to saw off the rejas on a back bedroom from outside to allow my wife to pass out the three dogs before i allowed her to leave she could get out.

Shortly after that I replaced that window reja with one that can be locked/unlocked with a key from Inside or outside & the same on another bedroom at the other end of the house that we used to rent out.
As we are below the road & flood water ditch, about 1m, which means all water runs down to what used to be the drinking water 'Aljibe',capable of holding around 30M3 , I also invested in a dirty water pump capable of lifting water from 10m down & pumping away at the rate of 1m3 per minute. It cannot keep up ,on the odd occasions we have torrential down pours ,but does enough to ensure that the water can not back up towards the house & over the door thresholds again.

What was annoying was the fact that we were not flooded because of the water coming accross the alluvial plain from SapreLorca industrial estate but because in front on the opposite side of the road we have one of the many 'flood water ' ditches about 2m deep & 4m wide, that fan out from the centre of town to distribute the flood water quickly to low lying areas. All of these have gates that allow set amounts of water to flow out of town without,theoretically, over topping.
What they had failed to do though ,even though locals had been on to them , was alter the gate level to take in to account that they had allowed the new commercial centre, The Parque Almenara, to discharge all its water & treated effluent in to the ditch when the pumps start up automatically.
The centre has two underground parking levels, parking for 1000 vehicles above ground along with all the infrastructure & drainage for housing yet to be built followed by a third level which is basically a giant tank as it has to collect the hypermarkets effluent after treatment along with all & any surface rainwater.
It had already been pointed out that there was a problem when it rained here but not in town as the centres pumps* would start & the ditch would have an 80cm flow level,yet there was no water coming down it from the town.

* & the pumps outflows are two 16" (40cm) pipes that are operated through a pump driven by a 14 litre diesel engine.

 

[gus-lopez]

Oh & the sun is ,fortunately,still out here.

 

[Mr porky]

We had a torrid afternoon and evening battling surface flood water yesterday in our home in Los Alcázares…

221 litres per sq meter meant we have between two and 2.5 feet of water outside our garage. Luckily the flood barrier largely did its job, but we still had to empty an estimated 3000 litres of water from our downstairs in just under seven hours… we are both physically broken today. Friends tried to come over to help but couldn’t safely get to us.

I’ve got a plan for a sump and float activated pump View attachment 1269027View attachment 1269028View attachment 1269029that I will install in the coming weeks.

The pictures were from early in proceedings. Didn’t have time for any after that. We had a total of three phone blast Red emergency warnings, the last saying get to top floor of buildings as the towns flood defences were about to breach. Luckily they didn’t.

Sending you hugs, sorry for your situation.

 

[Carpmart]

Oh & the sun is ,fortunately,still out here.

Yes it’s been sunny all afternoon for us too!

Sending you hugs, sorry for your situation.

It’s all good, these thing happen… we are reasonably pragmatic about everything… the flood barrier has prevented a true nightmare!

Had a nice chilled day (both shattered) and we are out for a loverly steak dinner (yes boring but we fancy it) and we will get back to the cleaning and reorganising tomorrow.

I’ve a plan which I will get started with next week, need to find a water fed saw to hire for a drainage channel, then dig and line a sump with a powerful enough pump to clear any water that gets passed the barrier…

Been round with a neighbour a little earlier and their semi basement parking is under about four foot of water… luckily only one car left in it ( the Belgian guy no one likes) but the storage rooms are trashed. They are waiting for the pump truck to visit later to suck the water out for them. Made me feel lucky compared to them especially as most are locals and are a long way from wealthy!

 

[Grianan]

Horrific Carpmart … glad you’re ok and you have a plan to avoid this next time. You must be absolutely shattered.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

France as well, we drove along the A9/E15 Eastwards and it was torrential so much so we pulled into an Aire and had a brew for an hour , first time I've ever felt the need to do that. There were a couple of standing water aquaplaning accidents, but no injuries involved.
Mike.

 

[jumar]

Yes it’s been sunny all afternoon for us too!


It’s all good, these thing happen… we are reasonably pragmatic about everything… the flood barrier has prevented a true nightmare!

Had a nice chilled day (both shattered) and we are out for a loverly steak dinner (yes boring but we fancy it) and we will get back to the cleaning and reorganising tomorrow.

I’ve a plan which I will get started with next week, need to find a water fed saw to hire for a drainage channel, then dig and line a sump with a powerful enough pump to clear any water that gets passed the barrier…

Been round with a neighbour a little earlier and their semi basement parking is under about four foot of water… luckily only one car left in it ( the Belgian guy no one likes) but the storage rooms are trashed. They are waiting for the pump truck to visit later to suck the water out for them. Made me feel lucky compared to them especially as most are locals and are a long way from wealthy!

Spain definitely delivers extreme weather's, it not all wall to wall sunshine....I like your positive attitude...well done you..

 

[royandsharont]

When we have lived & visited Lis Alcazares since about 2007 we have seen many sudden instances of flooding, including going there when your home area flooded Carpmart I’ve checked with my friends who lived next to us on C Estacolmo on way to Roda and they have been fine, heavy rain yesterday but no flooding. We didn’t have the flood barrier on our underground access

 

[MikenPauline]

One of our sons flew out to take part in the Barcelona Ironman, had his bike driven down only to receive this message. At least he’s safe.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

A friends daughter and SOL were entered for that as well, flew in Tues after long delays.

 

[Peavy]

Very strange situation in Catalunya tonight. We have extreme weather alert because of some kind of mini-hurricane? Let's see what this brings, all activities have been cancelled and everything it's been shut up.
We are just back home from our van weekend because of this rare thing