Andalucía emergency: storm forces evacuation of nearly 7,000 residents with more rain to come
The president of the regional government has warned that the situation could worsen with the rain forecast from Saturday onwards
Storm Leonardo has caused the evacuation so far of nearly 7,000 people across Andalucía, the regional government has said. With the forecast pointing to more rain from Saturday, President of the Junta Juanma Moreno warns that the situation could worsen.
The province that has been affected most is Cadiz, where the highest number of people have had to leave their homes in municipalities such as Grazalema, El Puerto de Santa María and Jerez de la Frontera.
The flooding of the Guadalquivir river in Cordoba on Thursday afternoon led to the evacuation of the Guadalvalle residential areas.
Likewise, there have been preventive evacuations in municipalities and areas sensitive to the overflowing of rivers and reservoirs in the provinces of Cadiz, Granada, Cordoba, Jaén, Malaga, Huelva and Seville.
Soaked soil is a cause for concern in some areas due to the increasing risk of landslides
Besides the evacuated homes, there are 15 villages that cannot be accessed. "Streams and overflowing watercourses have cut access to many roads. There have been 200 incidents during the early hours of last night alone. In total, we have registered 7,454 incidents so far during the storm," Moreno said on Thursday.
The fullest reservoirs at the moment are Bornos and Arcos, both in Cadiz province. They have been releasing water since last Friday.
Moreno said the number of people evacuated from their homes is likely to increase in the coming days because the reservoirs are currently releasing practically the same amount of water they receive. If the rainfall increases, river flows will also grow, which eventually leads to the preventive evacuation of residents of municipalities located downstream.
In addition, soaked soil and saturated underground aquifers in some areas have become a cause for concern due to the increasing risk of landslides, which could lead to further evacuations.
Moreno said that Andalucía has never been hit by a storm with such virulence. The Junta president reiterated his appeal for extreme caution. He advised residents against approaching rivers and streams or crossing them and strongly called for the public to follow the emergency services' guidance.
The emergency plan management has deployed more than 1,200 personnel in different parts of Andalucía to monitor, control and secure the areas most affected by the heavy rains and strong winds. Infoca teams, 112, civil protection, the Guardia Civil and 404 troops of the state military emergency unit are working in the region.
