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Puntos de vista - a personal Spain blog

Musings about Spain and Spanish life by Paul Whitelock, hispanophile of 40 years and now resident of Ronda in Andalucía .

THE RAIN IN SPAIN …..
Friday, November 1, 2024 @ 12:48 AM


Friday, November 1, 2024 
 

“The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain” sang Rex Harrison in the musical “My Fair Lady”. By Lerner and Loewe.

Well, they got that wrong, didn’t they?

At the moment, the rain in Spain stays/falls mainly on Castilla-La Mancha, País Valenciano and Andalucía.

Photo courtesy of Benito Link

 

 

Why?

The atrocious weather has been caused by DANA, which has brought the worst weather in living memory to these three areas of south-eastern Spain.

I know we’ve been crying out for rain, to fill our reservoirs, irrigate our crops, water our golf courses and fill our swimming pools, but this is too much all at once.

150 deaths so far but dozens missing presumed drowned.

[UPDATE: Sat 08.45 am: the death toll has risen to 207]

The worst-hit area has been the Valencia region, but Castilla-La Mancha has experienced major flooding too as well as golf-ball sized hailstones.

Andalucia has suffered also with rivers bursting their banks and deluging towns like Alora, Pizarra, and Alhaurin de la Torre, all not too far from where I live in Ronda.

More misery and devastation are expected as the storms head west. Parts of Malaga, Cadiz and Jerez have been inundated and several coastal resorts have suffered, with their beaches being washed away. Some chiringuitos have been badly damaged and will have to be demolished.

 

What is DANA?

DANA, or “Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos” (Isolated Depression at High Levels), is also known as a "gota fria” (cold drop) and occurs when a cold air mass becomes isolated in the atmosphere. When this cold air collides with the warm, humid air of the Mediterranean, it triggers torrential rains and extreme weather conditions.

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of 20Minutos

 

 

Watch this space

This is an ever-changing story. Look out for updates …..

 

© Pablo de Ronda

 

Acknowledgements:

20Minutos

ABC

Benito Link

BBC News

MSN

Wikipedia

 

Links:

At last – good weather! It’s pouring down!

BREAKING NEWS - DANA – Who or what is it?

 

Tags:

ABC, Alhaurin de la Torre, Alora, Andalucía, BBC News, Cadiz, Castilla-La Mancha, chiringuito, DANA, “Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos”, fill our reservoirs, golf-ball sized hailstones,  "gota fria”, irrigate our crops, Jerez, Lerner and Loewe, Malaga, “My Fair Lady”,  MSN, Pablo de Ronda, País Valenciano, Pizarra, Rex Harrison, Ronda, “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain”, top up our swimming pools, water our golf courses



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2 Comments


PablodeRonda said:
Saturday, November 2, 2024 @ 8:38 AM

Update at 08.45 On Saturday 2 November:

The death toll has rocketed to 207 (204 in Valencia; 2 in Castilla-La Mancha; 1 in Malaga).

Thousands of volunteers, many of them young people, are arriving from all over Spain to help with the clean up.
Centres of co-ordination have been set up to provide gloves, masks, brooms and mops to the volunteers.

Donations of food and water are arriving constantly, and are being organised into parcels for an efficient distribution.

The looting of expensive luxury goods appears to have stopped as local people mount guard outside premises.




JohnSal said:
Saturday, November 2, 2024 @ 8:53 AM

Whatever some people are saying, a disaster of this magnitude was very difficult to predict, moreso when there was nothing like this happening in anyone's memory. Some are comparing to the level of preparedness in the USA; in my view this is fallacious as the USA REGULARLY experiences hurricanes and tornados.


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