Malaga Floods: A Month of Rain in an Hour

Last week, Malaga, a city in Spain's Andalusia region, experienced a sudden deluge. In just one hour, it received nearly a month's worth of rain. This rapid downpour led to the evacuation of almost 3, 000 people and a thousand homes near the Guadalhorce riverbank. The Spanish meteorological agency, AEMet, reported that Malaga got around 100 millimeters (4 inches) of rain on Wednesday, with 78 millimeters (3 inches) falling in a single hour. Normally, Malaga gets about 100. 5 millimeters in the whole month of November. The heavy rain caused many streets in Malaga to be flooded. The Malaga City Council ordered evacuations near the Campanillas River to prevent overflowing. The Ministry of Transport suspended the Málaga-Madrid rail service due to waterlogged tracks. Even the Billie Jean King Cup opening round tie between Spain and Poland was postponed because of the weather.

More rain is expected, with forecasts predicting up to 180 millimeters (7 inches) in the provinces of Malaga, Granada, Valencia, and Tarragona. Schools in Malaga and some other areas will be closed on Thursday. Valencia province's coastal area also has a red weather warning for Thursday. Spain's Minister for Transport announced that non-essential movement on Valencia's roads will be closed at 6 p. m. local time. Spain is still recovering from severe floods that occurred two weeks ago, causing more than 220 deaths. Protests in Valencia last weekend called for the resignation of the regional president, Carlos Mazón, due to the slow response to the disaster.

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