Devastation!
In 2005 I wrote about the Gota Fria in my blog and made a comment that it was wonderful to see rain after 9 months without any. At that time it was welcome not only for our pretty gardens but in particular for the farmers and their crops and of course for lack of water supplies.
However, this year has seen much more rain than is usual throughout the summer months and we have just gone through the worst Gota Fria recorded in 25 years in this location of Spain. This is unusual as they say that rain in August and September usually cools things down slowly and prevents the big drop of rain in the Autumn, so perhaps this was more of a freak storm.
There has been devastation that we have never seen the like of in the years that we have lived here. We have had a Gota Fria where it has rained for 4 days and not caused problems but there was not the intensity of this downpour then.
Last Thursday and Friday it rained almost non stop and was so heavy that you could not see through it. Judging by the water in a bucket we left outside we would estimate that we had at least 15 inches of rain during the 2 days. In addition to this we had a thunder and lightening storm which lasted at least 32 hours. Again this is something that we have never experienced before. We had so many power cuts that we lost count, our phones and internet were down and even the TV satellite ceased functioning on Friday night. We are happy to say that all these services are functioning OK now.
The towns around us of Calpe, Javea and Denia were all hit very bad and untold damage and devastation has occurred. We, fortunately, did not suffer any effects for which we thank the fact that we live high up on a mountain but sadly friends of our have incurred damage to their properties with flooding, floating debris and demolishes walls. We have been out and about today and have seen the aftermath of the destruction and it is heartbreaking. Spanish people we have spoken to say they have never experienced anything like it.
In the 7 years we have lived here we have experienced in our region the worst winter for Spain on record, the wettest weather, the hottest weather, snow that has never been seen before and now this. The weather pattern is going awry all over the world.
Our hearts go out to all those people who have suffered through loss of homes, personal belongings and more importantly lives as a result of this terrible storm.
