The intense rainfall in the Region of Murcia over the weekend has resulted in one fatality in Lorca and the threat of overflowing in the Albujón ravine, along with various affected watercourses such as Ramonete, where the fatal victim was recorded.
Furthermore, the precipitation has led to the closure of several roads and routes in the Region, mainly located in the municipalities of Lorca, Mazarrón, and Águilas.
The Director General of Roads, Francisco Carrillo, stated that the situation on Monday is «normal» as «no high-capacity roads are affected and only two roads are closed, the RM-D18, El Cocón road (Águilas) and the RM-D20, which goes from El Garrobillo to Ramonete (Lorca); both are secondary roads.»
The weather forecast has provided some relief on Tuesday, although the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has already issued another yellow warning, this time for precipitation, for Wednesday throughout the Region of Murcia, except for the Altiplano. In the affected areas, rainfall with an accumulated precipitation of 60 liters per square meter in 12 hours is expected, from 9:00 am until midnight.
Additionally, Aemet has issued a yellow warning for coastal phenomena on the coast of Campo de Cartagena and Mazarrón from 10:00 pm on Monday until 6:00 am on Tuesday.
NEARLY 150 ISSUES HANDLED
It is worth noting that the 1-1-2 emergency service has handled nearly 150 issues related to the rainfall episode, most of them related to obstacles on roads (54), water pumping (23), information requests (15), and freshwater rescues (12).
The most affected municipalities were Totana with 25 issues, Murcia (21), Águilas (17), Cartagena (13), Lorca (9), and Mazarrón (6), according to sources from the Emergency Coordination Center consulted by Europa Press.
The Automatic Hydrological Information Service (SAIH) of the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) recorded, in just 24 hours, 110.2 liters per square meter in Pinar Hermoso, in the municipality of Bullas; as well as 87.7 liters per square meter in the Pliego reservoir; and 85.6 liters per square meter in El Paretón, in Totana.
Specifically, the CHS emphasized that the rainfall was more intense in the central and southern part of the Segura basin, as reported by the river basin organization on its social media platforms.
FATALITY IN RAMONETE
The victim of the rains is a 50-year-old farmer who was «well-known and beloved» in the area, according to the Mayor of Lorca, Fulgencio Gil. The resident had tried to cross the watercourse with his van to reach the farm where his animals were, but he was caught by a sudden downpour and swept away.
Early on Monday, Gil confirmed the death of this farmer who went missing on Sunday afternoon near the Rambla de Ramonete, in the municipality of Lorca, after being swept away by the overflowing of the ravine due to heavy rains.
The Civil Guard found the body on the coast, at the mouth of the ravine, as detailed by the mayor in an interview on ‘Antena 3’, reported by Europa Press, and later confirmed by the Armed Forces.
As stated on Sunday afternoon by the Lorca City Council, the ravine had a high flow and was actually closed at Puntas de Calnegre.
Gil explained that two days before the rainfall started, a warning was issued to the population because unfortunately, the locality has «a lot of experience with the behavior of that basin during torrential rains or accumulated rainfall.» «The sudden overflow of the ravines is very common because a lot of water accumulates upstream in the slopes,» he added.
Despite the warning, the Mayor of Lorca lamented that such an incident occurred. «Unfortunately, that’s how it is,» he added, advising residents to stay away from watercourses and ravines in the coming hours, to be extremely cautious, and to stay informed at all times.
CHS ACTIONS
The CHS recalled the warning protocol it has in place when the water level or flow rate at a river or ravine control point exceeds the yellow threshold. At that point, communication via email is established between the river basin organization and Civil Protection of the Autonomous Community, informing them of the water level or flow rate and its location in the area.
When the orange threshold is exceeded, in addition to email communication, a phone call is made to the 112 Civil Protection control center to confirm that the information has been received, and the same procedure is followed when the red threshold is reached.
This was the procedure carried out by the CHS once it detected yellow, orange, and red levels in the Albujón ravine in its Hydrological Information Service.
Distributed throughout the water network in the territory, the SAIH system infrastructure has over 150 flow control points in rivers and ravines, allowing real-time observation of water level and flow rate, with updates every 5 minutes to the control center.