Red severe weather alerts activated on the Costa del Sol and in Malaga for torrential rain until midday Monday

Spain’s national weather agency, Aemet, has upgraded its weather warnings for heavy rain in Malaga province, from midnight this Sunday, 13 March, until midday on Monday. The arrival of storm Celia will bring with it very heavy and generalised rainfall throughout Spain, according to the state meteorological agency.

The forecaster has consequently upgraded the original amber alerts to a red severe weather warning for the Axarquía, Costa del Sol, Malaga city and Guadalhorce valley areas, where up to 120mm could fall in 12 hours and 30mm in a hour. The largest accumulations are expected in the western third of the province.

The yellow alert for the Ronda area has now been upgraded to an amber alert. And an amber alert now also applies to the Antequera area, and both will remain in place until midday on Monday. They could register rainfall of up to 80mm in 12 hours and 30mm in one hour. So will part of the Gulf of Cadiz.

The weather front is expected to remain stationary in the southern part of Spain during the first few days of the week, leaving significant rainfall in Andalucía, according to Aemet's forecast.

The Andalusian government has activated the pre-emergency phase within the Emergency Plan due to the risk of flooding in the risk areas due to the nature of the forecast.

On Tuesday, Aemet considers it likely that the showers will subside from north to south, but they will continue to be abundant in some areas in the south, especially in Andalucía, while temperatures will rise significantly across much of mainland Spain. The instability will be accompanied by an easterly wind, with intervals of strong or very strong in the east of the country, which will bring with it an air mass from Africa with dust in suspension, which will cause more precipitation, in this case muddy rainfall.