Cártama sports facility takes in families after Guadalhorce river swells during red weather warning in Malaga province

The activation of the red alert for the flooding of the Guadalhorce river this Sunday afternoon forced the Cártama town hall to take preventative measures to avoid the risk of flooding. The river had already exceeded four metres in the municipality, a situation which is keeping the municipal and emergency services on maximum alert.

Faced with this scenario, the town hall has set up the Estación de Cártama table tennis pavilion as a shelter for people evacuated from their homes due to the flooding. According to municipal sources, earlier on Sunday three families have been evacuated, although the number of people affected could increase if the water level continues to rise in the next few hours.

As a precaution at 6pm the iron bridge in Estación de Cártama was closed. The authorities said that the Guadalhorce river had not burst its banks, despite false alarms and fake news reports on social media.

The families were evacuated from homes in La Dehesa, one of the most exposed areas when the river floods. The town hall has explained that the decision was taken on a strictly preventive basis, in view of the arrival of large amounts of water from streams and the river Grande, which flows into the Guadalhorce as it passes through Cártama.

Municipal officials have been in the pavilion since early this afternoon, helping to assemble camp beds and prepare the space to accommodate families who may be forced to leave their homes. On Sunday evening three families had gone to the facility, although more residents were expected to arrive if the situation worsened.

The town hall also warned of the possibility of road closures if the river level continued to rise, especially roads close to the riverbed. For this reason, the population was asked to take extreme precautions, avoid unnecessary journeys and only follow the information provided by official channels.

According to municipal sources, most of the people who had been evacuated opted to move to the homes of relatives or friends, although the town hall is keeping the emergency plan in place to guarantee accommodation and care for those who need it. The evolution of the Guadalhorce river flow will determine the next decisions to be taken while the red alert remains active in the municipality.