At lunchtime this past Sunday, many Madrid residents were surprised by a disturbing message that appeared on their mobile phones. Through a loud beep and a brief text, Civil Protection and the emergency services of the Community warned of the arrival of “extreme storms & rdquor; in the following hours, for which they recommended to the public “stay in their homes & rdquor; and “do not use the vehicles & rdquor ;.
The advisory echoed the forecast of “Torrential rains” which, for several days, had been announcing all the weather prediction models, some of which, such as the Harmonie-Aromeestimated that the passage of DANA could leave up to 200 liters in the city in less than 24 hours.
In view of these indications, and with the still close memory of the storm Philomenawhich caught the Madrid institutions off guard in January 2021, the mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez Almeidaannounced in the morning that all parks and tunnels in the city would remain closed for the rest of the day and urged citizens not to leave their homes.
The local councilor endorsed the gloomiest forecast and warned: “Today Madrid can break all the rain records since 1973, more than 120 liters are expected to fall in a few hours & rdquor ;. For its part, La Liga canceled the match that Atlético de Madrid was to play against Sevilla in the Metropolitan Stadium and home delivery companies Glovo and Uber Eats They announced that they were temporarily suspending their services in the capital.
heavy storm
The development of the afternoon was then very different. Although the city was subjected to an intense storm with heavy rain and electric appliance, the episode barely lasted an hour and a half and it didn’t rain again until nightfall. At nine at night, they had picked up in Madrid just 25 liters throughout the day, half of which had fallen in the early hours of Saturday to Sunday. It was an important rainy day, but far from being historic or justify the alarm with which the people of Madrid lived it, most of whom opted for stay confined at home.
A very different situation has been experienced in other areas of the center of the Peninsula. In mostoles, a few kilometers from the capital, the Guadarrama River overflowed its banks as it passed through the town. The Firefighters of the Madrid’s community they had to carry out up to 190 interventions throughout Sunday, but none were relevant.
incidents
Worse part they took in Castilla la Mancha, where committed moments were lived throughout the afternoon. Between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., the community emergency services came to notify up to 278 incidents. The AVE line between Madrid and Seville was cut for several hours due to the damage caused by the rain as it passed through the province of Toledo.
In several meteorological stations in Toledo they came to collect more than a hundred liters and in the city numerous flooded streets were quantified, which forced the mayor, Carlos Velázquez, to ask the residents to remain in their homes.
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In the town of Cuenca Buenache de Alarcon, a 73-year-old woman had to be rescued by the Civil Guard after being trapped in her home as a result of the floods. The mayoress of this town, Raquel Hortelano, confirmed that this Monday she would request that the municipality be declared disaster zone after the damage caused by the DANA.
At 8 in the afternoon, the alert in Villa de Madrid had passed from red to orangebut it was still extreme in the south of the Community and in neighboring provinces.