Storm that hit Malaga worsens after leaving one dead in Torremolinos

Storm Joseph has been wreaking havoc since Tuesday, forcing several municipalities and the regional government of Andalucía to activate emergency plans.

The most serious incident has been the death of a 31-year-old woman from a fallen palm tree in Torremolinos. Several flights bound for Malaga were diverted on Tuesday, while the parks in some municipalities were closed on Wednesday.

In addition, some rivers have overflown, sweeping away cars and forcing road closures. Almost the whole of Spain activated warnings for strong winds, coastal phenomena, rainfall or all three on Wednesday

The accident in Torremolinos on Tuesday happened on Avenida Palma de Mallorca, shortly after 1pm. The emergency services were mobilised after the strong winds caused a palm tree to fall on top of a young woman.

Upon their arrival, the medical team performed CPR on the 31-year-old woman, who had an open leg fracture and a crushed thorax. Unfortunately, they could not resuscitate her and she was pronounced dead.

Torremolinos town hall extended condolences to the young woman's family and friends.

Regional minister of emergencies Antonio Sanz had already activated the emergency plan for the risk of floods in Andalucía on Friday, 23 January. At 3pm on 27 January, however, Sanz raised the pre-emergency phase to operational stage one in light of the passage of consecutive storms.

Storm Joseph left more than 50 incidents in Malaga province, out of a total of 366 cases in Andalucía, mainly in Cadiz (96) and Seville (78). Reports have come from practically all Andalusian provinces.

Malaga Airport was also impacted by the weather situation on Tuesday. By 2pm, a total of 12 flights bound for the Costa del Sol capital had been diverted. While some were sent to Seville, others had to be diverted to Madrid, Valencia, Faro, Alicante and Jerez due to saturation at Andalucía's second airport in terms of traffic.

According to Spanish airport operator Aena, four planes, with departures from Istanbul, Barcelona, Oslo and Madrid, were diverted to Seville.

One from Madrid had to return. A flight from London-Heathrow was also diverted to the Barajas Airport in Madrid.

Another flight from London-Gatwick went to Faro. A flight from Tampere (Finland) and another from Berlin went to Jerez. One from Bergamo and one from Casablanca landed in Valencia. One from Zurich and one from Dublin diverted to Alicante-Elche.

The airport station of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) yesterday measured a maximum gust of 82 km/h at 11.30 a.m. today, as well as sustained winds of 42 km/h, due to storm Joseph.

Numerous roads in Malaga province have had to be closed due to river floods. The flooding of the Velerín river in Estepona left 50 homes cut off after the water level rose above that of the two existing crossings.

Many municipalities have ordered the closure of parks and cemeteries due to the risk of falling trees. Alhaurín de la Torre town hall activated the municipal emergency plan after receiving reports concerning falling trees, branches, awnings and urban infrastructure elements.

In addition, many municipalities ordered the closure of parks and cemeteries where there were trees at risk of falling. In Alhaurín de la Torre, the strength of the wind forced the Town Hall to activate the Municipal Emergency Plan, after some trees, branches, awnings and street furniture fell.

Data compiled by SUR's weather expert José Luis Escudero from various official and unofficial sources reflects the magnitude of the storm: 92mm of accumulated rainfall in Ronda on Tuesday; 74mm in Benarrabá; 70mm in Juanar; and 64mm in Montejaque.

According to the official regional government's Hidrosur network, the record was in Cortes de la Frontera (65mm).