‘Dana’ storm deposited more than 250mm of rain in just eight hours in village east of Malaga

The powerful ‘Dana’ storm that swept through much of Malaga province and particularly affected Benamargosa in the Axarquía on Wednesday 13 November saw a historic episode of torrential rainfall in the Cuevas and Solano rivers as they pass through the village of Comares in the Axarquía, on the eastern side of the province.

There are no official rain gauges in the area, neither from the Junta de Andalucía's Hidrosur network nor from Spain's state wetaher agency Aemet. However, some local residents recorded up to 268mm in just eight hours, between 8am and 4pm according to the mayor of Comares, José Miguel Ruiz. ‘This flooding has not been seen here for more than 35 years, it is a consequence of climate change," said the mayor.

Candelaria Robles, a 69-year-old resident of Comares, registered 202.8mm in just 16 hours in her rain gauge, although between 1pm and 4pm it was around 150mm. "I have never seen anything like this in my life," she said. The diversion tunnels to La Viñuela reservoir from both dams have a diameter of more than three metres.

The rainfall in the area was double the maximum recorded in the last three decades, according to residents of Comares, and the torrent swept through orchards and subtropical farms in the areas of Llano de la Almendra, Huerta Ranea, Los Pérez, Los Hijanos, Los Gallegos and Salto del Negro, which belongs to Cútar.

In addition, around twenty houses were damaged, at least two of which have structural damage, according to the spokesperson for Avanza Comares and former mayor, Eva Aguilar.

The Junta de Andalucía was keen to refute messages spread on social media that the dam had been opened up to its floodgates during the recent storm and that this had generated danger for nearby towns, “as implied by a message spread on social media and even amplified by some media,” the regional government said.

It went on to say, “Such messages, with photographs or videos, were sometimes accompanied by alarmist texts such as the following: ‘They are releasing water as if there were no tomorrow at the La Solana dam, Comares, Malaga. Overflowing of the river due to the opening of the dam. Massive flooding’”.

The dam shown in the video is the La Cueva near Comares. It is a spillway ‘fixed lip’ dam which has no floodgates. In terms of its function, it is a diversion dam, with a capacity of approximately one cubic hectometre. When it reaches the indicated level it diverts water through pipes or tunnels to its reference reservoir, which is La Viñuela (165 cubic hectometres, and which is currently at approximately 21% of its capacity).

On 13 November, when it was observed that this situation could occur, the Junta’s water service decided to transfer water, which “functioned normally,” the regional government said.