Jimena storm damage estimated at over €3 million

(Press release) The torrential rain that has been present since before Christmas and the consequent rise in the Hozgarganta and Guadiaro rivers have cause extensive damage in practically the entire municipality that amounts to over €3 million, according to initial estimates by Jimena Council. A large portion affects almost all the roads, where water has caused some of them to be mere mud ruts and others with large potholes. Many of them are impassable. Damage to roads is estimated at over €680,000. But there are still places where water has not drained off and estimates have to wait for it to do so; such as the bridge at Pasada de Alcalá (photo), which awaits a thorough inspection of its structure. Damage to agriculture and private homes is also extensive.>
Orange groves in the Guadiaro Valley have taken the larger part of damage by far and agriculture as whole has suffered damage to some €2 million, according to the farmers. Some 11 tons of oranges have been lost, which also translates into about 22,000 working days for pickers and other workers throughout the municipality. (Photo: Noticias de Tesorillo)

Public and municipal buildings have not escaped the battering either. Mud slides and leaks are numerous in several places but perhaps the most significant, and urgent, damage is at the castle itself, where the Arco del Reloj (entry arch, photo) is in danger of partial collapse as the result of water having undermined some of the underpinnings. Damage to public and municipal buildings is initially estimated at €100.000. The storms have also impacted on the usual problems with the expanding clay on which we sit. Mud slides have affected Calle Qurós and Paseo Cristina in Jimena, and several places in San Pablo, added to damage to ditches and similar infrastructure, all of which add up to over €130,000.


These estimates do not take into account any damage to private homes, where mud slides (photo of a private home) and flooding have taken a sizable toll. Cracks in walls and flat roofs, for example, have also brought about leaks indoors and, in one case that we know of, the need to open an umbrella in a kitchen.



On December 30 Jimena Council sent a request to have the municipality declared a zona catastrófica, and reports on damage have been sent to the authorities. Mayor Pascual Collado stated that "these initial reports are subject to revision as soon as the weather allows."

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