Floods in Malaga: warnings and closures avoid total chaos

Between ten and eleven o'clock on Tuesday night, all geolocated mobile phones in the province of Malaga sent out an unpleasant beep accompanied by a message calling for caution and recommending that people avoid travelling. It was the Civil Protection red alert on a messaging system used for the first time in Malaga province.

This early warning helped avoid the worst effects. The storm was an example of how measures activated in sufficient time, and with the massive monitoring of the population, can avoid a disaster such as the one still being felt in Valencia.

We will never know, but the story could have been very different in Malaga province and along the Costa del Sol if classes had not been cancelled in schools, colleges and universities, if shops had not been closed and if companies had not opted to tell their staff to work from home.

The predicted downpour, however, was not long in coming. The early hours of the morning passed with the occasional light shower and Wednesday dawned with a sparkling, ash grey sky that sowed uncertainty. "In the end, it'll just be a few drops," was the most repeated phrase in the early morning in the streets of Malaga.

The 'Dana' storm, caused by a cut-off low pressure, moved as they all do: erratically and unpredictably. Many centimetres could fall in one neighbourhood or town, and almost nothing in the next.

However, this one was different from previous ones, as explained by the director of the Malaga meteorological centre, Jesús Riesco: "The dynamics of the Dana created a surface squall; as it sped up the east wind fed it with humidity from water off the sea." Hence the significant rainfall that fell on Wednesday.

The rain started to fall in two main areas: the highest part of the Axarquía, in the east of the province, and the Guadalhorce valley area, mainly around Coín. But it soon descended towards the Campanillas area of Malaga city, where people had been warned the night before as a precaution: some 4,210 people in total had been evacuated.

In addition, emergency services had to step in to rescue 32 people in homes and vehicles in the city itself and another 30 in Malaga province overall, according to the central government's office in Malaga.

Around midday, the moment of truth arrived. The downpour was most intense where it was expected, in Malaga city, Guadalhorce valley and Axarquía. In just one hour, the city realised that the red alert was for real and that the risk was indeed 'extreme'. Calle Victoria in the city centre became the river it had been in ancient times. The same happened in Avenida de Velázquez on the west of the city, while in Campanillas, neighbours relived with concern recent flooding, such as happened in 2020, although in the end it was not as bad as it could have been.

At the headquarters of the Aemet weather centre, in El Cónsul near Malaga Airport, 133mm of rain was recorded. Of these, 80.6mm was in just one hour. Ironically, that weather station was on the verge of flooding itself.

In the province more than 150mm was collected throughout the day. The highest accumulated rainfall was recorded in Los Montes de Málaga and Alfarnatejo, with more than 150mm, according to official data.

The Benamargosa river in the Axarquía (132), the Atabal treatment plant in Puerto de la Torre (126), Coín (119), the Limonero (91) and Casasola (87) dams were other points of intense rainfall.

The Guadalhorce river turned muddy red once again; by late morning it was flowing at an impressive rate. The Campanillas river and nearby streams flowing into the Guadalhorce were swollen to dangerous levels, forcing the evacuation of residents of the houses on their banks.

The day passed under the threat of the city's bigger rivers, especially the Guadalmedina, overflowing. This happened at the entrance to Casabermeja and the normally dry Guadalmedina riverbed filled up as it passed through the centre of the city, helped by a controlled release from the Limonero dam that protects the city upstream. The streams running into the sea around Malaga were also largely at breaking point

In the lower part of the river Benamargosa, in the Axarquía, there were also problems. The fire brigade had to intervene in a cutting on the A-356 road as it passes through Triana, near Vélez-Málaga, due to the overflowing of the river there. Several other roads around lower lying areas of the province were cut off for a time.

The inability of the drainage system to absorb the downpour caused flooding in streets in parts of Malaga city as well as shops and even a hospital, with water leaking out of toilets and sinks or filtering through the ceilings. The laboratory of the Hospital Clínico in Malaga was evacuated and the water also forced health centres in different areas to close. In the village of Almogía some 140 houses were flooded.

There were 760 incidents to do with rain reported in the province, the vast majority concentrated in Malaga city itself, although fortunately none of them were serious. Firefighters and police mainly dealt with flooding but there were no reports of people missing or seriously injured. And that is the best news. In addition, in an act of responsibility, many businesses and companies decided to close or send their employees home to work remotely.

The heavy rainfall left the province cut off from rail services, as the AVE high-speed line, regional trains and the Cercanías stopped running. María Zambrano train station was evacuated and closed, many people spending the night inside unable to find a hotel.

All city bus lines were halted due to the risk posed by the flooded streets. The same happened in many towns along the coast. And Malaga metro did the same and ended up cancelling the service. Meanwhile, air traffic was affected, with fifteen flights diverted to Seville and one cancelled, although air travel was the form of transport that best withstood the onslaught of the storm.

Tourism was affected too. Many visitors to the area also received Tuesday night's alert message on their mobile phones and, taken by surprise, went down into hotel receptions or local bars to ask what they should do. "Will there be a tsunami?" asked one tourist.

On the positive side were the reservoirs, which by Wednesday night had gained more than 12 cubic hectometres (up from 154), which was enough water for Malaga city for three months.