First heavy rains in Malaga province bring more than 50mm, with few incidents

Right on the one-year mark since the 'dana' that devastated Valencia and caused major damage in Malaga, especially in the Guadalhorce area, where a British citizen suffered a cardiac arrest during a rescue operation, the Costa del Sol experienced another rainy day.

Yellow warnings for heavy rainfall were active throughout Wednesday, 29 October, with the heaviest showers taking place in the afternoon. As the day progressed, the yellow alert extended to the northern area of Malaga province, although that had not been initially forecast.

Despite the state meteorological agency (Aemet) predicting tornadoes and waterspouts, these didn't form in Malaga. At least nobody reported an incidence.

As expected, the provinces of Seville and Huelva experienced the intense effects of this "storm with subtropical characteristics", as described by SUR's weather expert José Luis Escudero.

Ojén leads this week's rainfall ranking

After five months of almost no precipitation, the front that entered from the south-west and moved towards the east delivered the first generous rainfall for the season. Ojén was the epicentre in Malaga province, with 52mm accumulated since Tuesday night, followed by Sierra de Mijas (34mm); Cortes de la Frontera (31); Coín (29); the Guadaiza river (27); Guadiaro, Genal, and Guadalmina rivers (25); and the Benamargosa and Fahala rivers (22). At least a dozen other points recorded around 20mm, meaning the rainfall was quite evenly distributed.

The emergency services received about 15 calls reporting floodings, mostly in Torremolinos and Benalmádena. According to 112, most of the incidents affected homes and public roads.

One hour of intense rainfall, from about 3pm to 4pm, prompted the mobilisation of the Local Police, firefighters and public work crews to pump water from flooded areas.

There were also a few calls of this type from Marbella. In Malaga city, around 5.55pm, authorities reported that rocks had fallen onto the MA-3101 road. The Local Police and the Guardia Civil were deployed to clear the area.

There were no problems in rivers, which have begun to see some runoff after the summer but remain far from dangerous levels. There have been no alerts concerning water basins. The Paredones diversion dam in Álora recorded the highest flow rate at 6.30pm (3.58 cubic meters per second), where the supply and irrigation channels for Malaga diverge.

The Guadalhorce river's right tributary, the Grande river, measured 1.05 cubic metres per second - an important figure since that water feeds directly into the Aljaima underground source in Cártama, from where Malaga's water company Emasa takes it for treatment at El Atabal, providing relief for reservoir resources.

The Turón river near Ardales registered 0.13 cubic metres per second, far from the flood levels during last year's danas and storm trains, which forced the Conde de Guadalhorce dam to open its bottom outlets for several days.

In the Serranía, the Guadiaro river, at its diversion toward the Majaceite (in Cortes de la Frontera), measured 0.59 cubic metres per second. The Guadalteba river carried just 0.28, feeding its reservoir, while the Benamargosa river in the Axarquia district had only 0.01, despite having caused flooding damage a few months ago.

Rain risk fades as we head into the weekend

Yesterday's rainfall, while notable in some places, was isolated and will not continue in the coming days, with almost no chance of rain on Thursday. The risk drops to zero over the weekend.

Halloween will see a return to an average of 25C in daytime temperatures and clear skies. Nighttime temperatures, however, will finally drop from the recent 20C to around 15-16C - values that are more typical for this time of year.

No rainfall is expected next week, though temperatures will continue to decline, with maximum values around 21–22C.