Precipitations of more than one hundred liters per square meter in just three hours yesterday morning caused more than a hundred interventions by emergency services throughout the Region to drain water from homes and bring people surprised by the downpour to safety. The worst part of the DANA that forced to activate the red alert on the coast and that will have its tail at least until next Sunday was taken by Cartagena, where its local police officers and firefighters carried out ten rescues in the middle of a waterspout. The storm left a discouraging trail in that city: more than a hundred flooded homes and basements in different neighborhoods, as many disabled vehicles in streets and garages, muddy sidewalks for several days, and even leaks in public buildings. The boulevards of the region drained eagerly to the Mediterranean and also to the battered Mar Menor.
The storm unloaded violently between three and six in the morning. It rained especially in the center of Cartagena and its western zone. In the network of rain gauges of the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS), the 72.6 liters collected in one hour in the Benipila-Los Patojos boulevard and the 50.4 in Canteras stood out. There was also plenty of water at Playa Honda and La Azohía.
The municipal emergency services carried out a dozen rescues of people trapped in vehicles and in homes. The most complicated was that of a ‘homeless’ person who usually sleeps under the bridge in the Concepción neighborhood and who was surprised by the flooding of the Benipila boulevard. Civil Protection personnel and firefighters helped him when the water reached his chest. They also saved two elderly people, one of them disabled, in two flooded houses in Los Barreros and Las Seiscientas. And they helped to get out of their vehicles to several drivers who got into streets and roads puddled despite the warnings of the authorities.
Failures in the drainage of the train tracks turn San Ginés into a swimming pool; complaints in the Ensanche for dirt in manholes
The heavy rains once again flooded areas of the urban center of Cartagena and its old marsh where hydraulic works have been carried out in recent years, such as the area around the Civil Guard barracks. Its lowest areas were flooded, as were the basements of the Ramón Alonso Luzzy cultural center and the Palace of Justice. There were also significant floods in neighboring communities near Parque Sauces and in the San Ginés neighborhood.
The City Council attributed the latter to the malfunctioning of the drainage channels of the train tracks near the Torreciega bridge, the responsibility of Adif. Dozens of commercial premises on Pintor Portela and Ingeniero de la Cierva avenues, as well as surrounding streets, were affected. Their owners spent the day bailing out water.
The force of the rainfall caused leaks in the Hospital del Rosell that did not affect the care services, according to the president of the Autonomous Community. Fernando López Miras went to Cartagena at mid-morning to inquire about the situation and visit with the mayoress, Noelia Arroyo, the bed of the Benipila boulevard. The Podemos-IU-Alianza Verde candidate also toured some of the affected areas.
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Arroyo stressed that his municipality recovered normality “in just two hours” thanks to the work of the brigades and municipal services and without personal injury. But residents of San Ginés and the Ensanche, upset, assured that there were dirty manholes and scuppers and expressed their weariness for the floods.
Students from 14 municipalities return to classrooms today
After the worst moments of the last DANA that has hit a good part of the Region, students from fourteen municipalities and from the universities of Murcia and the Polytechnic University of Cartagena who did not have classes yesterday for preventive reasons return to classrooms today. This was reported by the regional president, Fernando López Miras, during his visit to Cartagena. Likewise, day centers, as well as sports, leisure and cultural organizations, also plan to resume their activities. The yellow alert for heavy rainfall was deactivated last night throughout the Region, although the forecast is for moderate and intermittent rains to continue at least until next week. Everything indicates that the next electoral Sunday will be passed through water.
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