News
Parents stabbed
A 15-year-old British boy is reported to
have attempted suicide after stabbing his
parents on Tenerife. His mother and
father who live with him on the island
were hospitalised while the youth
attempted suicide by throwing himself
down a deep ravine sustaining serious
injuries. National Police investigators said
first indications were that the teenager
suffered mental problems.
Stage death
A performer died last month after being
hit be a firework during a performance in
Ávila. Joana Sainz was on stage with the
15-strong Super Hollywood Orchestra
when she was struck in the abdomen by a
rocket and collapsed unconscious. She
was rushed to hospital but later died of
severe injuries.
Terror arrest
Police say a man detained in Algeciras last
month had been “highly radicalised.” The
51-year old man had shared a video in
which he swore allegiance to the so-called
Islamic State, which prompted
investigators to believe that he may have
been about to carry out a terrorist attack.
They say he had manuals on how to carry
out attacks and make explosives.
Petrol mugging
A Moroccan woman was detained in
Castellón last month is suspected of
mugging a mother by spraying petrol
over her and her baby, before threatening
to set it alight. The mother surrendered
her handbag but followed the alleged
attacker, managing to detain her until
police arrived. The suspect’s defence
lawyer has called for her to be admitted
to a mental health institution.
Dog disinfectant
Dog owners in Sevilla must now carry
disinfectant every time they take their pet
for a walk. The city council has been
trialling a new by-law requiring them to
pour the liquid on the animal’s urine, in
response to residents’ complaints of the
smell which is left. Fines will be imposed
on those failing to carry a bottle of water
and vinegar solution, a requirement
which has been in force in Almería since
July.
See Smalltalk
on page 20
Worst storm for 140
years leaves six dead
Severe weather in eastern
and southern Spain
during the middle of
September left six dead
and damage running into
millions of Euros. The
regions of Alicante and
Murcia were worst hit,
but parts of western
Andalucía were also
affected.
Torrential downpours
began on September 11 and created
conditions not seen for well over a
century, causing rivers to burst their
banks flooding towns and villages and
displacing thousands of residents. First
estimates suggested that over 300
hectares of prime agricultural land had
been left under water.
Worst hit communities included
Ontinyent in Valencia where 250 mm
of rain fell in 12 hours, about 10 times
more than average for September, and
Orihuela in Alicante which was cut off
by floods for three days.
A brother and sister died in Caudete,
100 kilometres south of Valencia, when
their car was swept away by flood
water while a man drowned in Almería
when he drove into a flooded
underpass. A 36-year-old man died in
Granada after his car became
submerged in mud and water, and
others, aged 41 and 58, died in separate
incidents near Orihuela in Alicante.
Over 1,100 military personnel were
deployed in Murcia and Valencia to
rescue residents and help with
evacuations, while the airports at
Almería and Murcia were both closed
for a time, and rail services were
heavily disrupted. Spain’s acting prime
minister, Pedro Sánchez, visited the
worst hit areas and later said that the
government would help with repairs to
many of the material damages, “caused
by this extraordinary meteorological
phenomenon.”
As the storm moved west into
Andalucía, it created flash flooding in
Alhaurín el Grande, washing away a
dozen cars, while the city of Sevilla
closed all public parks as heavy rain
threatened the area. In the Axarquía, 45
families were stranded in an area
10
between Benajarafe and Chilches after
part of their access road was washed
away by floods, while seven people
were rescued in Vélez-Málaga after
being trapped in homes and vehicles
by flood water.
Insurers have estimated that around
800 people suffered storm damage in
other Málaga towns including Cártama,
Coín, Alhaurín de la Torre,
Torremolinos and Villanueva del
Trabuco. They say damage in this
province alone will total about €4
million.
In both provinces of Málaga and
Granada, the strong winds damaged
avocado and mango production
leaving thousands of kilos of fruit on
the ground. Farmers say they expect to
incur a significant economic hit.
The regional government has released
€774 million for repairs in Almeria,
Granada and Málaga, of which much
will to go directly to town halls, while
Manchester United goalkeeper David
de Gea has donated €200,000 to help
victims of the storms. Meanwhile at
least one town hall has warned of
unauthorised raffle tickets being sold
illegally, supposedly to raise more cash
for helping them.
Spain’s national weather agency
AEMET said it had been the most
devastating storm since 1879, when
floodwaters killed over 1,000 in Murcia
and Orihuela. The end of summer is
often marked by storms on Spain's
eastern coast thanks to a phenomenon
known as “la gota fria” (the cold drop)
or DANA (isolated high altitude
depression). This occurs when warm
air saturated with water from the
Mediterranean rises to form huge
columns of cloud.