One week after the 'Dana' storm: No school and limited access in Malaga village

One of the municipalities hardest hit by the Dana that swept through Malaga province on Wednesday 13 November was Almogía. The heavy rains left many residents cut off and with no electricity or drinking water. A week later, the work to re-establish normality continues. Of its 4,500 inhabitants, some 2,500 live in isolated hamlets. Many of them are connected by rural roads that succumbed to the rain.

A week later, the situation has improved but there is still a lot of work to be done to get things back to normal. Above all, in specific areas such as Los Moras, where residents have reported to SUR that they still don't have drinking water, the access roads to the hamlet are largely still cut off and their children haven't been able to go to school.

Francisco Luque is one of them. He told SUR, "Drinking water has been restored to most of the houses but there are still neighbours without supply, especially in the El Chorrillo and El Librero. Another problem is the issue of access. Right now we don't have asphalt roads. Access has been established through a lane to Cártama. A machine has come and flattened it, but it is terrible. I have to leave every day to go to work in Alhaurín. I'm going to stop using the car," he said.

The access road to Los Moras school was also damaged. Residents are unhappy with a temporary repair and are asking for a new access to be built. Until that happens, the school remains closed and, as a consequence, eleven children have not had classes for a week now. Telematic assistance has been set up, but in an area like Los Moras, where there is little of no signal, this alternative seems questionable.

The mayor of the Almogía, Toñi García, has spent a week trying to solving the problems raised by residents. The municipality covers 163 square kilometres, which his means that the damage is not concentrated in one particular spot. García spends her days glued to her mobile phone and travelling around the area in a 4x4 belonging to the Civil Protection. When asked about Almogía's needs, she replies: "I need funding to rebuild everything that has been lost and to carry out the pending work on the streams and in the outlying areas."

She acknowledges that the situation has improved compared to a week ago, when the place looked like a disaster area. In Almogía, she points out, there are no longer any people cut off, but there is "poor access". In this sense, the mayor agrees with the local residents' statements and admits that not everything is moving as quickly as she would like.

Almogía is a myriad of small paths that cross and divide the rocky terrain. They connect, like arteries of a blood supply, to scattered hamlets and old farmhouses that go by names such as Barranco del Sol or Arroyo Coches. Restoring the roads and protecting the stream beds is now a priority. García has reminded the Junta de Andalucía that these areas are the responsibility of the regional government. As a matter of urgency, she highlights the construction of a new bridge to provide access to the Los Moras area.

Last week's rains acted like a chainsaw cutting through life in Almogía. The gradual recovery resembles a titanic feat that will require a lot of effort. Moving around Almogía is like zig-zagging on a grand scale. From the highest point of the municipality, where the monument to the cyclists is located, a wide network of rural roads can be seen. If the core of the municipality, where the town hall is located, is the heart, these roads are the arteries that pump the blood. Without them, there is no possibility of normality for the residents of this municipality, who are asking not to be forgotten.