Community spirit
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Julio J. Portabales
Álora
Friday, 8 November 2024, 07:48
More than seven days without water, cut off from the rest of the municipality and with barely any phone signal, yet still smiling. This was the situation this week for Charles and Anne Noring, a British couple from London who live in Malaga a province.
After a week isolated in their home on the hillside at Laja Prieta, near Álora in the Guadalhorce valley, they finally managed to get out thanks to the efforts of the community and local authorities.
Last week’s storm not only brought with it isolation and anguish but also wiped out the infrastructure that connected their home to the outside world. The raging, overflowing river swept away the footbridge connecting the hill to the main road, cutting off vital access to the village. The current not only destroyed the road but also washed away the water pipe, leaving them without a water supply and forcing them to rely on the help of their neighbours to survive.
Despite the harshness of the situation, the couple are doing well, keeping their spirits high. Their main concern, however, remained a medical appointment. Charles, who is known to locals as Carlos, has endured months of pain and mobility limitations, so missing the opportunity for a medical assessment was not an option. They knew that Thursday this week was a crucial day and the possibility of finding a solution was within their reach, as long as they could leave their home.
“It’s taken them a long time to give us the appointment, now we can’t miss it just like that,” Charles said.
Mayor of Álora Francisco Martínez was leading efforts to ensure that they could do so. “They are a priority for us,” said Martínez, who has been personally overseeing the work to clear the road that was destroyed by the storm.
“We hope that by tonight the road will be ready,” he added on Wednesday this week, showing his commitment to the affected residents. The mayor’s words gave the couple a ray of hope after days of waiting and uncertainty.
During the storm, residents in the Laja Prieta area of Álora demonstrated an unwavering spirit of solidarity. Neighbours in the area organised themselves to bring supplies to isolated families, walking over rocks and mud regardless of the danger of crossing unstable terrain.
“Without them, I don’t know how we would have made it,” Anne, who is known as Ana to neighbours, said with a mixture of gratitude and emotion in her voice. The helping hands that brought them food and water became a support network that enabled them to endure the most difficult week in living memory. “They have hearts of gold,” the couple added
Around the area where the Noring’s live and across Álora work has also been going on tirelessly to clear mud from fields and the crops in them, as farmers face up to too much water on their land rather than the too little of a couple of weeks ago.
“The problem with the mud at the root [of a tree] is that it does not breathe well and needs oxygen. It has to be removed as soon as possible because, if it settles, it could cause serious damage to the plant,” explained Cristóbal González, a worker from a private company who had been hired to remove the mud with his excavator from the areas under cultivation.
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