Alex Trelinski
HEAVY weekend storms which caused widespread destruction and some loss of life did not bring a silver lining as water levels in Spain’s reservoirs continuing to fall across the country.
Official figures published on Tuesday by the Ministry of Ecological Transition shows average national capacity at 37% compared to 37.6% a week earlier.
Presumably the numbers would have been worse but for the first heavy storms of the autumn between Saturday and Monday.
The rain only boosted the Navarra region with capacity up by 1.3% while there were falls in Andalucia(0.19%), the Valencian Community(0.56%) and the Murcia region(0.68%).
The biggest decrease was in La Rioja with 2.6%.
The better news is that there is more water in reservoirs compared to the same time last year, with 20,763 cubic hectometres stored, as opposed to 19,671 cubic hectometres.
Not so good is that the current 20,000-plus figure is well below the 29,000 average covering the last decade.
By hydrographic basins which are most in need of water, such as the Guadalquivir, the Andalucian Mediterranean, the Guadiana, the Guadalete, the Segura or the Internal Basins of Catalunya- all have seen their levels decrease slightly or have stayed the same.
Those of the Jucar, the Tajo or the Ebro- areas where it rained abundantly, not a litre of water appears to have been added either.
Two people died in the wake of the ‘DANA’ storm that arrived on Saturday, with others still missing.
Authorities in Toledo discovered the lifeless body of a man inside a stranded car in the town of Bargas on Monday after a night of torrential rainfall.
The man was discovered on kilometre 117 of the A-40 motorway at 8.16am.
Meanwhile, a young man in nearby Casarrubios del Monte suffered a tragic fate when he became trapped in an elevator due to a power outage caused by the storm.
Searches for missing people are continuing in the Toledo area town of Villamiel.
Passengers travelling from Madrid to Andalucia suffered another day of travel hell after being forced to sit on trains for up to five hours before leaving the station.
Train operator Renfe saw many of its services delayed due to a number of stretches remaining flooded following heavy rainfall at the weekend.
Chaos reigned at Madrid’s Atocha station on Monday night as thousands of people gathered around the monitors, which showed every train status as being ‘delayed’.
GOT A STORY? Email us at tips@theolivepress.es
