Rain and high winds returned to lash the area for the third time in three months, after last week’s unseasonably mild weather broke on Sunday evening to bring another taste of misery across Alicante Province and the Mar Menor.
Alicante City saw the third highest rainfall in a single day since comprehensive records started to be kept in 1934. 137 litres of rain fell per square metre, equivalent to half of the annual total average rainfall. By comparison, levels were at around 40 litres per square metre across the Vega Baja, couple with strong winds, with gusts of up to 82 kilometres an hour recorded in Torrevieja on Monday, with localised flooding hitting parts of the region again, after similar incidents in December and January.
A 30-metre high communications mast in Pilar de la Horadada operated by Olé and Torresat collapsed(pictured), depriving thousands of people of internet, phone, and television services, with fortunately nobody being injured as the structure camer down. A identical collapse also happened to an Azuretel and TKO FM mast at Via Park on the Orihuela Costa.
Authorities in the Orihuela municipality dealt with 80 incidents in just six hours on Monday, including collapsing trees, walls, and billboards, whilst the Playas de Orihuela school on the Orihuela Costa sent students home on Monday due to flooding, with the facility closed again on Tuesday.
Avenida de Alfred Nobel in Torrevieja was closed on Monday due to the risk of an electricity pole falling on the road, and there were a stream of road closures in the city including in the Torretas area, whilst a palm tree collapsed damaging the works that were being carried on the La Mata walkway. A number of roads across the Vega Baja region remained closed well into Tuesday.
Boats were ripped away from their moorings at La Manga and Santiago de la Ribera on the Mar Menor, with a stack of rubbish containers, road signs, and even the steel door of a building on Calle Orihuela in San Javier being yanked off by the strong winds. The roof at Cartagena bus station was damaged as well as the one at Los Nietos railway station, whilst a five metre high wall collapsed at a Molina de Segura car park.