Tag Archives: flooding

Ronda News

Emergency Repairs to Lanes in Ronda

The Provincial Delegation of the Environment and the Municipality of Ronda are this week commencing with emergency repairs to country lanes severely damaged during the recent heavy rains.

Readers of Ronda Today may recall that as much rainfall was received at the end of December 2009 and the first week of January 2010 as Ronda normally receives annually, putting tremendous pressure on waterways and causing significant flooding in Ronda along the Guadiaro river and into neighbouring municipalities of Benaojan and Jimer de Libar.

Three areas of Ronda district in particular, the Hoya del Espino, Puerto Sauco, and Los Villalones hexperienced major damage to low lying bridges cutting off communities for days while river levels subsided. Certain roads were all but washed away in places, and the emergency repairs are intended to restore access.

300,000€ has been allocated to the work which will allow regular access to communities and homes again, though further funding is expected to be needed over the coming months once a full assessment of the repairs needed can be made.

In other areas of Ronda, efforts continue to clean up river banks and scrape mud from roads. Within the city of Ronda, many cobbled streets are being repaired again after the heavy rains caused large potholes.

Ronda News

From Rain to Snow in the Serranía

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After the unexpected holiday season rain that caused chaos in the lower reaches of the Guardiaro and Guadalcobacin rivers, Ronda today awakes to a light dusting of snow on the mountains surrounding the city of the Tajo.

Rain yesterday threatened to cause more flooding as more than 40 litres per square metre fell, particularly in LLano de la Cruz and La Indiana where river cleanup hasn’t been completed by Egmasa, and where the Guadalcobacin has already broken its banks on four of the last ten days, the 24th and 25th of December, and the 4th and 5th of January.

Several million Euros of damage has been caused, including as much as 3 million Euros damage to public infrastructure. The fire service in Ronda has handled over 130 flood related callouts, with a similar number handled by the police and Civil Defence volunteers.

If your property or crops were damaged by the floods, report your losses to the Oficina de Atención al Ciudadano on Calle Molino by the 23rd January 2010 to be considered for compensation. You should still contact your insurance provider to make a claim as well.

Last night’s snow is only a light dusting, not much more than a couple of centimetres but is already causing concern. The extreme weather experienced in the Serranía means the roads were already wet and there is a real danger of ice on mountain roads. The Guardia Civil have announced extra patrols on the main roads to Ronda.

Work crews were last night active on all main roads depositing salt crystals along the highways, and will today assess the need for further action on secondary roads. Snow chains are not yet needed however representatives of MAPFRE, one of Spain’s largest automotive insurance company’s is today advising travellers to keep chains in the car.

Weather in Ronda over the coming weekend is expected to be fine with light rain returning on Sunday, so it’s possible snow and ice on most roads will melt, but take extra care in sections of roads that don’t receive the winter sun.

Ronda News

Holiday Season Rain Worst Since 1947

The last two weeks of 2009 saw a deluge of rain falling on the Serranía de Ronda, and a Yellow Alert declaration in Ronda. Rainfall in the week prior to Christmas was described as the worst since 1947 when 12 people lost their lives from drowning or lightning strikes. Flood damage is expected to cost many millions of Euros in insurance claims.

Rainfall on certain days exceeded 80 litres per square metre, whilst winds of 70km per hour were common, gusting in exposed places. Over the entire two week period an estimated 450-500 litres fell depending on location, though most days saw only moderate rain which unfortunately kept the river levels up resulting in further damage as rainfall became heavier.

In Ronda the worst affected area was the Llano de la Cruz and La Indiana districts with several homeowners reporting flooding inside the home and water damaged furniture and white goods. The through road in the Hoya del Tajo (the valley situated below Ronda), is still closed to traffic due to a bridge spanning the rio Guadalevin being submerged. Another road in Ronda, the Camino de los Tejares was closed twice as a nearby stream flooded a depression in the road, requiring a bulldozer to clear silt and mud.

Recent work by La Empresa de Gestión Medioambiental (Egmasa) in cleaning up clogged and overgrown streams and rivers in the Ronda district was credited by Remedios Martel, the councillor for the Environment in the Málaga Province, with preventing widespread flooding in low lying areas of Ronda. A further consequence of cleaning the rivers in Ronda was that flooding was felt downstream in other parishes where cleanup efforts hadn’t been as extensive.

In the Guardiaro valley massive flooding and extensive damage to trees, roads and houses was reported along the banks of the rio Guadiaro amid reports that rising river levels and high winds had caused chaos in low lying areas and on mountain roads. Some homeowners reported flood waters of upto one metre in their homes, whilst in Jimera de Libar at least two cars were submerged by rising water.

The Atajate-Jimera de Libar road was closed for two days whilst workers cleared fallen rocks and mud. On the A-366 Ronda-El Burgo road a small section of the road had to be closed for repairs when a rockslide damaged the edge of one lane. The A-373 between Cortes de la Frontera and Berrueca was also closed for a few hours as high winds knocked over a tree.

In the first week of January 2010 many of Ronda’s car parks remain closed due to the risk of landslides or falling trees, they being El Castillo, Alameda del Tajo, San Rafael, and San Lorenzo. None of Ronda’s underground carparks were affected by flooding.

Older residents of Ronda remember flooding in 197 that breached the lowest of Ronda’s bridges, the Puente Arabe near the Arab Baths, and the terrible loss of 9 lives between Montejaque and Benaojan in the same year when 9 people were drowned. Closer to Ronda 3 people were killed when a small cabin they were sheltering in was struck by lightning. We can be thankful the rains of December 2009 weren’t as destructive.