Simon Wade
THE Mayor of Orihuela has issued a stark flood warning to Ximo Puig, the Valencian President.
Emilio Bascuñana told Puig that unless granted more aid, his town could bare the brunt of another devastating gota fria in a matter of months.
The mayor’s funding call came during a teleconference in which he demanded a share of millions of euros earmarked for flood relief in the Vega Baja’s most historic town.
Bascuñana demanded the Consell carry out the urgent and outstanding projects needed since September.
He said: “Since in just three months the cold drop will again be a threat to our neighbours.”
He also expressed his concerns that the storms and flooding of Monday could be a precursor to something far more devastating should another gota fria strike.
The mayor demanded some of the €57 million of ‘Funds of Solidarity’ that Spain has received from the EU, to deal with the devastation caused by flooding in September 2019.
Orihuela City Council has the coordinated support of all other municipalities in the Vega Baja, with a ‘Vega Renhace Plan’ already in place to restore infrastructure in the area.
Bascuñana stated that connectivity with Murcia, currently restricted because of lockdown regulations, is essential.
With that, he also requested that Puig open up the borders, ‘to allow mobility between our municipality with our neighbouring Region of Murcia.’
Bascuñana took advantage of the Valencian president’s attention by asking that he expedites the CV-95 road project and high-speed rail links into the region.
He stressed, those developments are, ‘two infrastructures on which the connection and structuring are dependant for the Vega Baja development.’
READ MORE: Roman map shows flood-hit regions of the Costa Blanca were part of the Med just 2,000 years ago
