Val & Petes Weblog

On the 14th October when I wrote about the terrible storms here on the Costa Blanca on the 11th and 12th, we thought that it was all over apart from the clearing up operations and the poor affected thousands of people trying to get their lives, homes and belongings back in order.

I have heard some terrible tales of how people were affected. Homes have been flooded and some have just crumbled away into the water and mud. Mud, gravel, oil and muck have swept down the roads into houses and pools and terraced gardens have slid into swimming pools taking retaining walls with them. Bridges and roads have disappeared cutting off people from their homes or trapping them in them and underground car parks have filled with water submerging all the vehicles that were parked in them. In Calpe alone over 1000 cars have been written off and one tale I heard was that an insurance company had refused to pay out as it was considered to be ‘an act of God’! Boats have been torn from their moorings and taken out to sea to then be washed back up onto the beaches and some beaches have just disappeared into the sea. River beds that have been dry for decades are now fast running overflowing rivers and it is reported that one in Javea had tidal waves that totally flooded an animal compound causing untold damage to a very worthwhile charity. Where the rushing cruel water did not cause damage the bulldozers have moved in to dig up the roads in an attempt to channel the water out of the towns and into the sea.

How wrong I was thinking it was all over bar the clean up operation though, as since then we have had deluge after deluge of rain pounding down on us for hours at a time, which must be hampering the attempts to get things back to rights. This makes a falacy of the saying that ‘the rain in Spain rains mainly on the plains’ - not this time that’s for sure! Today it has rained again all day but it has now stopped and we have a watery blue sky mottled with grey clouds interspersed with pink from the setting sun which decided to grace us with it’s presence for the last hour of the day.

Surely the downpours must end soon or divert to California to put out the terrible fires they have there!