Damage to homes, businesses and vehicles: this is the cost of the 'Dana' storm in Malaga towns so far

The passage of the 'Dana' storm has wreaked havoc on around 500 Malaga families and foreign residents in the province, who have lost homes, vehicles and even their businesses and jobs.

SUR has had access to the first figures from the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS) of the floods in the Guadalhorce valley, Malaga city and the Costa del Sol.

The CCS is Spain's state-run agency that manages a compensation fund that pays out for damage from natural disasters to those with a valid insurance policy.

At a general level, for now, 463 applications for compensation from insured persons in Malaga have been registered. Surprisingly, despite the fact that the hardest images came from inland municipalities, when it came to claiming, the first were those affected in the city of Malaga (108), followed by Álora (89), Benalmádena (83), Cártama (50), Alhaurín de la Torre (27), Pizarra (18) and Torremolinos (18).

In terms of the breakdown by type of property affected, damage to homes and residential communities totalled 301 cases, and motor vehicles (cars and motorbikes) damaged or directly for scrapping amounted to 100. This was followed by shops and warehouses (54), industrial buildings (5), offices (2) and civil works (1).

"We are working intensively to provide the best and quickest response possible and the consortium will continue to update the information notes and publish estimates as more information is received," the agency, which reports to the central government's ministry of the economy, said.

Not surprisingly, sources from the CCS warn that many of the victims of the Dana in the province are still cleaning up and assessing their material losses. Therefore, a significant increase in claims is expected in the coming days.

At the national level, up to 5 November, the CCS had received and registered 72,125 requests for compensation. Of these, 44,203 are for vehicles and 21,405 for damage to homes and communities, in addition to 4,635 businesses and warehouses, 1,563 industrial premises and 307 offices. More than 30,000 applications are being processed, 40 per cent of the total received; and 495 experts have been mobilised to assess the damage.

The insurance consortium reminded all affected insured persons that they can apply for compensation through the CCS website (www.consorseguros.es) or the call centre (freephone 900 222 665). "Alternatively, it is highly recommended at this time that the application for compensation to the CCS is made through their insurance agents or brokers, or their own insurers on behalf of the insured persons who have suffered the damage."