The Manzanares river bates records by multiplying by 15 its channel

“Normality situation” or “stability” are the terms used yesterday afternoon those responsible for emergencies in the City Council of Madrid and the Autonomous Community to refer to the situation after the heavy rains of the last hours. At the close of this edition, only two sections of the M-611 roads were cut, in Rascafría, and M-215, En Ambite. Without separating the eyes from heaven, he requested calm as he continued the surveillance of rainfall, unwins, thaws and flood areas. And the situation of the A-6 was not lost sight of at the crossroads with the M-30, in case the evolution of the day advised its closure to the circulation.

This was warned by the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, early in the morning: we had to be “in constant attention and, therefore, I cannot say that we have to rule out making any decision at any time.” In case the rains worsened and complicated the situation, the municipal government worked in a plan B: to leave the road from Castilla as an element by which vehicles would deviate and from that road cut access by the A-6 to Madrid.

The day dawned complicated yesterday in the region. The Manzanares river especially worried, which was multiplied by 15 its flow as a result of rainfall and unwins. The Madrid did not stop appearing, throughout the day, to the bridges that cross it in the city to see that ‘apprentice of Rio’ turned into an adult overnight. They had never seen it that way, they pointed out, although in reality there are precedents: in 1966, there were serious floods that forced boats to rescue neighbors from areas from the capital near the river; And in 1995 another storm train brought the river to its limits, causing huge water rafts.

Yesterday, throughout the day the authorities were very aware of their evolution. A firefighters, municipal police and technicians of the General Directorate of Public roads were permanently maintained by monitoring the situation to adopt the decisions that were relevant at all times.

Meanwhile, from Ecologists in Action, they asked that the gates of the river dams be eliminated in the city, as a safety measure before the floods. These, predicted, “due to climate change, they will be increasingly intense.”

The city of Madrid exceeded during the month of March the absolute rain record of any month since the Retiro Observatory began to collect data, in 1893. That partly explained the situation of its river. However, the Government delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín, recommended not to forget other basins with problems, such as those of Jarama, Tajuña and Henares.

Vulnerable points

The Regional Flood Plan Advisory Committee, the INUNCAM, continued to meet all day coordinating the actions and monitoring all flood areas. As explained by the Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Interior, Carlos Novillo, emergency services and authorities have “very controlled” the vulnerable points of the region. The sky was not lost sight of, although the counselor pointed out that “this is an emergency that is not immediate, it is not a Dana, but it is progressive” and that “gives us time to anticipate.”

However, the authorities continued to claim prudence to the population, and that will avoid displacements that were not essential. They have also requested to limit this weekend the displacements to the Sierra to the strictly necessary.

The reservoirs continued to release water in a preventive and controlled way, to leave space inside if there were new rains. Special concern for the thaw in the mountains was shown although they insisted on the message of tranquility: “The situation is more controlled than it was a few hours ago.”