by Maria Jesus Corrales
The latest rain system, known as DANA in Spanish (for depresión aislada en niveles altos, cut-off low in English) have this week caused the suspension of school classes across the Campo de Gibraltar, the evacuation of residents from the banks of the river Guadiaro for several hours and left seven people in Jimena in need of rescue.
But they did not cause any injuries to the residents of the area and allowed the two reservoirs from which the Campo de Gibraltar region draws its water supply to restock.
The Campo area was under Orange alert on Wednesday and Thursday, with Palmones and the Estación district of Jimena de la Frontera seeing some flooding.
In that last, emergency services were called out to rescue seven people from a roof in near San Pablo de Buceite due to the sudden rise of water levels in the La Viña del Indiano stream, a tributary of the Guadiaro. No damage was sustained.
The Barca Moreno bridge was also cut due to the river overflowing.
In El Secadero, a neighbourhood in San Martín del Tesorillo, residents were also evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the rising levels in the Guadiaro.
The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, had already warned on Thursday morning that the Guadiaro was six centimetres away from overflowing its banks.
For this reason, the Junta also ordered the evacuation of the inhabited areas along its banks in San Enrique, Guadiaro and Sotogrande, with residents allowed to return to their homes a few hours later.
Friday saw Andalucía resuming normal activity in the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga, when precautionary restrictions on schools and trade were lifted.
Damage was extensive in the city of Málaga, in towns along the banks of the river Campanillas, in Axarquia and in the Guadalhorce valley.
The rains did allow the Campo de Gibraltar to boost its fresh water stocks in the Guadarranque and Charco Redondo reservoirs, the supply for the majority of the area.
The first has seen its store increased from 209,300 cubic metres to 210,900 in one week and is at 26.64% of its capacity. At this time last year, the reservoir was only at 14.91% of its capacity.
Charco Redondo reservoir went from 289,200 cubic metres to 290,100 and is at 34.89% of its capacity. 12 months ago, it was at 27.62%.
In a message to the public late on Thursday, Mr Moreno thanked the people of Andalucía for their “understanding, collaboration and sensitivity” during the poor weather.
“We are progressively moving towards normality and that is great news for everyone,” he said, adding that Andalucía prefers to prevent disasters.