The Ronda Valley Hotel, known to locals by its original name, Hotel Don Benito, suffered major flood damage last week. It’s not a pretty sight [bonito = pretty].
Hotel Ronda Valley before the flood [Photo: Facebook]
What happened?
After the torrential rain last Thursday, the track leading up to several farms opposite the rear of the hotel broke up and a mass of water, stones and mud cascaded down from the hills above, swamping the hotel and filling the cellar with water and mud.
This knocked out the pump and other equipment and cut off the electricity and water on the ground floor where the bar, restaurant and kitchen are located.
The hotel guests were evacuated to sister hotel, Ronda Moments, in Arriate.
A hundred metres further on the lower-lying Hotel Molino del Puente was not affected by the weather and remained undamaged, much to the relief of owners Ian and Elaine Love, after being flooded out twice in 2018.
“In 2018, the river rose, burst its banks and flooded the whole of the lower ground floor, knocking out the dining room, kitchen, library, terrace and car park,” recalled Ian.
“This time the river did not flood, the acequias [water channels, ie road drains] were clear and the system coped. I must admit I was worried, however!”
Clean-up
Since the incident, hotel staff have been switched to cleaning up, sweeping mud out of the hotel and surrounding area and repainting damaged paint work. Protección civil volunteers and bomberos (fire brigade) have worked non-stop to empty the cellar of water and damaged furnishings and contents, filling two skips.
The electricity company and plumbers have been in and fixed the services.
The hotel is keen to re-open but keep having to push that back because of the time they need to put things back in order and re-equip.
I went along a couple of times to talk to staff, professionals and volunteers and to take photos.
Some of the PC volunteers had just returned from the Valencia region, where flooding and damage was much worse and where over 200 people died. They had been despatched there to help with the clean-up.
“It was a terrible situation there,” Carmen told me. “Although a lot of the press coverage was sensationalist and didn’t show the true picture.”
What struck me was how cheerful these volunteers were. They were exhausted, filthy and had worked hard, yet the bonhomie was remarkable. And they were all quite young, women as well as men.
Outside, the road from where the deluge emerged was blocked with rubble, so that local residents were trapped. Contractors were on the case very quickly and a JCB cleared the blockage. A pile of chippings was delivered to assist with repairs to the road.
The road leading to the pedania of Fuente de la Higuera was covered in mud and stones washed down from the fields. The drains on either side of the road were blocked, but heavy plant was soon “on the case”. There is still work to be done, but at least it’s passable.
My local
The Don Benito is my local “watering hole”, so I have had to find somewhere else for an evening drink. The afore-mentioned Molino del Puente is closed for the winter, so the next nearest is the admirable Venta El Puente on the MA 7401, the road to Benaoján.
Manolo, wife Isa, and their three daughters have upgraded since they took over the lease last year.
This inn is full of interesting and friendly locals, and they serve great beer (El Aguila on draught) and well-priced and tasty tapas and meals.
What next?
Life will swiftly return to normal. The people round here are very stoical. They just knuckle down, clean up and get on with life.
As for who pays for all the damage, loss, emergency services, etc, you can be sure that the insurance companies will wriggle out of their obligations to stump up and will claim acto de Dios.
The buck will no doubt stop at the Consorcio* which will take over the financial responsibility.
* All insurance policies include a levy payable to Consorcio which takes over responsibility for insurance claims arising from major disasters or Acts of God.
STOP PRESS:
The Hotel Ronda Valley re-opened this morning at 7.00 am.
I'm sitting in the bar now as I write this. It's 7.00 pm. Not many people about, yet the hotel is fully booked with guests!
I chatted to Maria and Andrea who have "worked their socks off" cleaning the hotel for the last four days, along with other staff from the hotel, cleaners, kitchen staff, the lot.
"All the staff worked really hard to clean up." said a member of staff, who wished to remain anonymous. "And funnily enough, we were all women!"
I say: "Well done!"
Given the amount of damage, it's remarkable that they have re-opened within four days.
© Paul Whitelock
Photos:
All by Paul Whitelock except photos of Hotel Ronda Valley, Protección Civil and Venta El Puente [all courtesy of Facebook]
Links:
For information on the hotels mentioned above click here: PLACES TO STAY - Help me, Ronda
Back to the “Bridge” – St George’s Day
Kilómetro 26 - Help me, Ronda
Run of the Mills - Help me, Ronda
Tags:
acequia, Acto de Dios, Acts of God, Arriate, Benaoján, bomberos, bonhomie, cellar, clean-up, cleaning up, Consorcio, contents, damage, damaged furnishings, Diary of a Nobody, Don Benito, electricity company, emergency services, Facebook, hotel guests were evacuated, Ian and Elaine Love, insurance claim, insurance policies, JCB, levy, loss, major disaster, major flood damage, MA 7401, Molino del Puente, mud, Paul Whitelock, plumber, Protección Civil, pump, repainting, Ronda Moments, Ronda Valley Hotel, skip, stones, sweeping mud, torrential rain, Valencia, Venta El Puente, volunteers, water, “watering hole”